J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.) 
i — ^ RTj 9;g i 

J-^H- ; fmvfit J|" # 

# # 

f UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f 



ESSAYS 



ON 



RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS 



INCLUDING 



THE ORDINANCES, DEITY OF OUR LORD AND 

SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, 

RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, Etc. 



David Hunt. 




^$$k£ 



PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR. 
NEW VIENNA, OHIO: 

18 7 4. 



•a 



'.Wtt 



Entered according to Act of Congress, xi the year 1874, "by 

DAVID HUNT, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 



Friends' Publishing Housk Print, 
New Vienna, Ohio. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The writer being convinced that there is much want 
of correct information, and of right understanding, rela- 
tive to the subjects treated of in these pages ; believes it 
right for him to transmit to others, in a concise but com- 
prehensive manner, the result of his investigations and 
deliberations, with some of the evidence and reasons, 
which have served to convince his judgment and estab- 
lish faith on the subjects treated of. 

And this he is the more ready to do in view of the 
fact, that comparatively there are very few who have 
either the opportunity or the inclination for an extensive 
and careful examination of these things — the masses but 
too generally satisfying themselves with a casual reading, 
or the partial presentation by some one, who is mere 
presumptive, but perhaps no better informed than them- 
selves, hence the want of information alluded to above. 

Many views and sentiments have been transmitted 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

from parents to children for centuries, which we believe 
are wholly in error, and not only this traditional preju- 
dice, but nearly all the ministerial bias which has influ- 
enced the popular mind for ages must be met and over- 
come, in order to correct public sentiment. 

And the mind of man being naturally disposed to 
carnal things, and loth to forsake long-established cus- 
toms, we are prepared to expect but a slow reaction from 
the errors alluded to, and the cordial adoption of genuine 
gospel views and practices. But we would that all should 
remember that we should exercise a godly jealousy over 
ourselves as did the Psalmist when he inquired and peti- 
tioned, "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou 
me from secret faults." 

Surely bigotry is not a Christian virtue. We ask 
only an impartial and prayerful examination of the 
points of doctrine presented, remembering that the right 
understanding, the thorough believing, and the practical 
observance oi the precepts and commands of our Lord 
are inseparably connected with our highest and holiest, 
our present and eternal interests, and the divinely- 
appointed means for us to arrive at the enjoyment of 
true peace in this life, and live and die with a blissful 
assurance of a glorious immortality. 

We are well aware that it can not profit any, either 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

to add to or subtract from the gospel as taught by our 
divine Law-Giver, but there is eminent danger lest we, 
like the Jews formerly, make the commandments of God 
of none effect by our tradition, or suffer irreparable loss 
by teaching for doctrine the notions or commandments of 
men. 

The doctrine of the deity of the Lord Jesus, and of 
the atonement for sin, made by him through the offer- 
ing of his body a propitiatory sacrifice on Calvary once 
for all: with those of the resurrection of the dead, and 
of the general judgment, being cardinal doctrines of our 
holy religion, and are so fully and frequently enunciated 
in the Holy Scriptures, we think it passing strange that 
they are called in question; but 'that this is common. 
Sure is stranger still.' 

We hope to be able to satisfy the humble inquiring 
mind on all the subjects treated on in this little work, but 
caviling casuists are rarely convinced. 



INDEX. 



PAKT I. 
Carnal Ordinances, 17 

• PAKT II. 
Deity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 75 

PART III. 

FvEsurrection of the Dead, - - - - - -113 

Musings of Things which shall be, - - - - 143 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



FAGE 

Almighty Power in Jehovah — Proof of, • - - - 83 
Ancients and Moderns judged together, - - - 133 

Annihilation — Doctrine of, discarded, 73 

Apostles — Tenacity of, in adhering to ordinances, - - 41-43 
Ark, not water, saved Noah, 46 

Baptism — No necessary connection with water, 32 
No good reason given, water baptism being a Divine 

institution, - - 35> 

One only belonging to New Covenant Dispensation, 37 
An outward sign of inward grace — Christ's sign prefer- 
able, 38 

By the apostles, reasons for, ... - 39, 40 

Conscientious objections to, 39 1 

Water, can not wash away sins, - - - - - 41 

Instructions to Gentile converts omitted, - 43 

By apostles not commanded, - - - - 39 

True meaning of the word explained, 33 

Forty-two different significations, - - - - 32 

With water as Christ's command refuted, - - 27 

Spiritual and ceremonial instructions compared - 30 

Two to make one, a weak subterfuge, ... 38 

Believing — The scheme of grace reconciled by, - -88 



10 T^BLE OF CONTENTS. 

Belief in resurrection of the dead not a matter of indiffer- 
ence, 127 

Born of water and Spirit, - 45 

Bread and wine not necessary as a remembrancer, 48 

Partaking of — Ritual, carnal, - - - • - 19 

Cahnal Ordinances derogatory to gospel dispensation, - 17 

If divinely re-established should be clearly defined, -- 28 

Contention and discord respecting, 29 

Only defined by revelation from God, - - - 28 

Christ an emanation from Deity, ----- 79 

Christ's mission, - - - - , - - - - 79 

Infinite — Moses Finite, - 94 

All power vested in him, ------ 101 

A substitute, - 101 

Christ's care to substantiate his resurrection, - 125 

Commands disregarded by professing Christians, - 66 

Reasons for partiality in observance of, - - 68 

Humanity of Christ died only, refuted, - - - 104 

Omnipotence of, liveth and was dead, - 103 

Humanity of alone atoning, this would ruin all, - 105 

Superhuman and Divine, his miracles testify, - - 104 

Testimony of, by Patmos' saint, - 97, 98 

Crucified — 'Twas not a spirit that was, - - - 96 

On Faith in him is poised our weal or woe, 95 

Christian professors — Inconsistency of, - - - - 64, 65 

Christ's coming — Prophetic declarations of, 87 

Spiritualized, mystified, crucified, ignored, - - - 82 

Christ the end of the law, 68 

Christ's teachings — Partiality in observance of, - - 63, 64 

Circumcision as binding as water baptism, 27 

Cultivation — Paul's testimony against improper, - - 60, 61 

Dark Ages — Cause that produced them, 61 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 11 

Day of Judgment, general, appointed, 129 

Deify the Father ; Deify the Son, 97 

Deity of the Son of Mary denied presents him as a deceiver, 98 

Of Christ — Testimony of the Father, and Paul to, - 99 
Deity of Jesus Christ, 73. Further evidence of, - - 105-108 

Based on other doctrines, ----- 73 

Desolation follows unbelief — Now as then, - - - -86 

Divine and Human — Union of, 82 

Disciples — Tenacity of, in adhering to ordinances, - 41-43 
Divinity and Humanity of Christ inseparable, no warrant for 

separation in Scripture 105 

Educational prejudice, an obstacle to the spread of true 

Christianity, 21 

Emmanuel, "God with us," "Son of" Virgin born," not a 

spirit Christ, 89 

Error refuted — that Christ commanded water baptism as a 

Christian ordinance, 27 

Eucharist — Did Christ command its observance, - - 48-50 
Apostles' testimony concerning observance, - 50, 51 

Modern Jews — Custom of administering, 51 

Paul's testimony to the spirituality of, - 54 

Self-appointed man, administering, - - - - 58 

Estate of parent forfeited is lost to his children, - - - 77 

Every eye shall see " the Son of man," - 130 

Fall of man was in consequence of disobedience, - - 76 

Gospel Dispensation Spiritual — declarations of on sacred 

page, 18 

Gospel light hath broke forth — yet signs of portentious times 

appear, 80 

Growth caused by cultivation — Temporal or spiritual, - 60 
God's mercy is without conditions where he has given no 

capacity to understand conditions, - - - - 77 



12 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Holy Spirit a sufficient remembrancer - 55 
Harvest, the end of the world, not individually but literally, 

collectively, 132 

Homage due to Jesus Christ only, 91 

Human heart — proneness to disbelief, 83 

Immortality — The doctrine of, nearly universal, 74 

Established by Christ's resurrection and teachings, - 75 

Infidelity and its effects, 81 

And skepticism strengthened through ignorance, or 
opposition to the doctrine of the resurrection of 

the dead, - 113,114 

Inconsistency of Christian professors, - - - - 64, 65 
Into or unto, instead of in, 33 

Jesus Christ the only Son of God, ----- 81 

Jews — stumbling still — if denying, 88 

Jesus Christ — is God incarnate — proof of, - 85 

Judgment — but one day of — taught in scripture, - - - 131 
Justification and condemnation — on equal grounds, - - 77 

Lord's Supper celebrated by apostles — No instance given, - 31 

Dr. A. Clark's definition of, 56 

Lust of the flesh inherited, 77 

Man Christ Jesus, Paul's testimony of as Mediator, - 109 

Ministerial commission, Is yours different from Paul's ? - 47 

Moses and the Prophets — also Christ and the Holy Spirit, 81, 82 

Moses, finite — Christ, infinite, 93 

Mosaic Dispensation, ritual — Declarations of, - - - 18 

Only one safe foundation, 132 

Ordinances — Carnal, derogatory to gospel dispensation, - 17 

Fate of, sealed, 23 

Earnestness of Paul to guard against them, - - 24 

Omitted in instructions to Gentile converts, - - 43 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 13 

Ordinances — 

Strange that good men continue their pdvocacy, - - 23 
Touch not, taste not, handle not, - 25 

Paul — 14 epistles canonized — 8 of all other apostles, - - 21 

Testimony of respecting water baptism 35 

Baptize in his own name — Preach in his own name, - 36 

Preposterous idea, -------- 36 

Prejudice — influence of on disciples, - 42-44 

Papal inquisition, produced by secondary cause, - - 62 

Fate of its victims, 62 

Redemption for us through Christ, 79 

Keformation — time of only (Heb. ix: 10.), - - - - 19 
Kemembrancer — The Holy Spirit a sufficient, 55 

Keason and Faith, often disagree, 115 

Results of perversion of Scripture, 122 

Resurrection of the dead, 113 

Scriptural views, important, - - 113-127 

None unless that which dies, is raised, - - 114 
Christ cited as proof of, - 119 

Those that are in their graves, 120 

Of the dead — Spiritual — considered, ... 121 

Peter, John, and Paul's testimonies, - - - 124 

Paul's belief in, 117. John's, 118. Job's, - - 121 

Early Friends taught the same doctrine, - - - 133 

Disbelief in by Friends refuted, - 142 

Ritualism, lamented by spiritually-minded Christians, - - 63 

Martin Luther's opposition to, 62 

Encouraged because "craft is in danger," - - - 69 

Ritualistic proclivity in the early church, 68 

Sadducees — Christ's rebuke of, 122 

See, hear, and handle — Will ye own, - 85, 86 

Skepticism and Infidelity encouraged by ignorance, - - 113 



14 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Skepticism of the Corinthian Church, - - -,....- 126 

Soul never dies in Christ — dead in Christ shall rise, - - 125 

Scripture perversion — results of, 122 

Spiritual resurrection considered, - - - - - 121 

Spirit slew — 'tis too absurd (no wedding garment), 98 

Spirit's blood — none will assert, - 99 

Spirit Christ not endorsed, 82-107 

Spiritual and Bitual compared, 20 

Stone cut out without hands (Spiritual) - - - - 19 

Supper — Lord's, celebrated by apostles — no instance given, - 31 

This do in remembrance of me. By Matthew only, - 31 

Thousand years as one day, explained, 130 

Transgressions of parents entailed on children, 76 

'Twas not a spirit that was crucified, 96 

Unbeliever — obstacles in his way — not all on Christ — his 

sentence sealed, 31 

Unbelief — the great Hebrew sin — still extant, - - - 94 

Union of Divine and Human early ordained and in due time 

consummated, - - 86 

Unto or into instead of in, ------- 33 

Vail rent evidence of deity of Christ, - 105 

Water baptism — ritual, 19 

Water baptism and the eucharist, relics of the ceremonial 

dispensation, 22 

Water, Christ baptized with — reasons for, - - - - 26 

Who hath required this at your hands? - - - - 47 



CARNAL ORDINANCES. 



The Ordinances. 



Carnal Ordinances Derogatory to the New Cov- 
enant or Gospel Dispensation. 

The kingdom of Christ is not of this world ; the New 
Covenant is not carnal, but spiritual. If this affirmation 
is proven, it should, in all right reason, confirm the above 
declaration. 

In approaching our subject, these questions present, 
as a basis or fundamental prerequisite, the answer or 
decision must constitute a standpoint from which the decla- 
ration may, yea, must be investigated, viz : What is the 
nature of the kingdom of heaven, the gospel dispensation ? 
Is it spiritual, or carnal? or, is it a linsey-woolsey econ- 
omy, constituted partly of carnal ordinances, and partly 
of spiritual grace? 

2 (xvii) 



18 THE ORDINANCES. 

We speak of the animal, the vegetable, and the 
mineral kingdoms, and when a substance is presented, we 
can generally decide readily to which of these kingdoms 
it belongs. In like manner, if it can be established by 
divine authority that the New Covenant is a spiritual 
kingdom, we submit that carnal ordinances, being wholly 
of a different nature, can not belong to nor be a constituent 
part of this covenant. 

We w T ill seek for answers to the foregoing queries on 
the Sacred page ; it being God's covenant, we will look to 
his written word for a reliable definition of the nature 
of it. 

We find in Jer. xxxi : 31-33, " Behold, the days 
come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant 
with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah ; 
not according to the covenant that I made with their 
fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring 
them out of the land of Egypt (which my covenant they 
brake, although I was a husband unto them) ; but this 
shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of 
Israel ; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my 
law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts ; and 
will be their God, and they shall be my people." The 
foregoing is quoted and confirmed, Heb. viii : 8, 9. We 
here find it distinctly stated, that the New Covenant 
should not be according to the covenant made with their 
fathers, which we know was ritualistic. And of it the 
Apostle Paul said: " Which stood only in meats and 
drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, 



THE ORDINANCES. 19 

Imposed on them until the time of reformation," Heb. ix : 
10. Now we do know that baptism with water, and the 
-ceremonial partaking of bread and wine, are also meats 
and drinks, and divers washings, and that they are 
•carnal ordinances, and emphatically according to and of 
the same elementary nature as the covenant made with 
the Hebrew fathers ; and according to the plain divine 
scripture declaration, they are not of, but foreign and 
extraneous to the New Covenant, which is not outward, 
but written on the heart, and consequently spiritual. 

Notice also the words of the apostle, staling that 
those outward things were imposed on them until the 
time of reformation only; therefore, the continuing, and 
requiring of them, after the bringing in of everlasting 
righteousness, is an unwarrantable imposition. 

And again, this kingdom, which the God of heaven 
would and did set up, is further represented as spiritual 
in the vision of King Nebuchadnezzar, interpreted by the 
Prophet Daniel, A stone cut out without hands, which 
should fill the whole earth, which should overcome all 
others, and remain unmoved forever, Dan. ii : 34-45, 
representing the kingdom of Christ as a pure, unadulterated 
diamond, no admixture of gold or silver, brass, iron, or 
clay : the kingdom of heaven, pure, spiritual, and pow- 
erfully efficient; without admixture of any temporal 
elements, w T hich could only tend to dilute, without aid or 
intervention of men's hands to administer water or wine. 
Nay, verily, the Lord Jesus trod the w 7 ine-press alone, 
:and reigns triumphant over his kingdom, giving the bread 



20 THE ORDINANCES. 

and the water of life, and the baptism of the Spirit. He 
is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the Door of access to 
the Father, and " of God is made unto us wisdom and 
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." He is 
unto us Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and all 
between; and so far as we seek baptism or communion 
by introducing some temporal element, or calling for the 
intervention of another, we derogate from Christ's prerog- 
ative, and manifest our want of full confidence in him. 

King Emmanuel said, "My kingdom is not of this 
world : If my kingdom were of this world, then would 
my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the 
Jews : but now is my kingdom not from hence," John 
xviii: 36. Again: "The kingdom of God cometh not 
with observation : neither shall they say, Lo, here ! or, Lo, 
there ! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you," 
Lukexvii: 20, 21. 

St. Paul thus defines : "For the kingdom of God is 
not meat and drink ; but righteousness and peace, and joy 
in the Holy Ghost," Kom. xiv : 17. 

All of which agrees precisely with what we have 
quoted from the prophets, confirming every deduction. 

The kingdom of Christ is not of this world, is not 
from hence, cometh not with observation, is within you, 
is not meat and drink"; therefore, it must be spiritual. On 
the other hand, water baptism, bread and wine, are of this 
world ; they are from hence. They come with observation, 
they are outward, and they are meat and drink ; therefore, 
we conclude that it must be evident to every unprejudiced 



THE ORDINANCES. 21 

mind that the practice of water baptism, and the use of 
bread and wine, as a religious rite, are foreign in their 
nature to Christ's kingdom, and parasitical to the blessed 
gospel. 

The preceding showing might be sufficient to expunge 
these practices from the militant church were it not for 
the powerful pressure of educational prejudice, kindled 
and propagated by the combined ecclesiastical teaching of 
almost every branch of the church in Christendom ; and 
no doubt by most, in all good conscience, like the youthful 
career of the Cilesian apostle. 

We will endeavor to meet and remove this prejudice 
by an additional array of evidence, based upon and drawn 
from Holy Scripture, the God-given rule of faith and 
practice. 

We will next introduce the teaching of the Apostle 
Paul on this subject ; bearing in mind that our Heavenly 
Father has given us a larger amount of gospel teaching, 
through the instrumentality of this apostle, than of all the 
others — there being fourteen of his epistles canonized, 
while we have but eight, including the Book of Revela- 
tion, from all the other apostles. It is therefore reasonable 
to conclude, that he had a clear understanding of what 
belonged to the New Covenant, and was pre-eminently 
gifted and qualified to give instruction for the govern- 
ment and edification of the church throughout all coming 
time. 

In writing to the church at Galatia, he explains this 
subject very forcibly by the following similitude : 



22 THE OKDINANCES. 

11 For it is written, That Abraham had two sons ; the 
one by a bond-maid, the other by a free-woman. But he 
who was of the bond-woman was born after the flesh ; but 
he of the free-woman was by promise. Which things are 
an allegory : for these are the two covenants ; the one 
from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is 
Agar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and 
answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage 
with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, 
which is the mother of us all. . . Now we, brethren, 
as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then, he 
that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was 
born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, 
what saith the scripture ? Cast out the bond-woman and 
her son : for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir 
with the son of the free-woman," Gal. iv : 22-26, 28-30. 

It has been shown from authority which can not be 
controverted by Christians, that the New Covenant is not 
carnal but spiritual. Therefore, reasoning from this basis, 
the apostle's representation is clear and conclusive, showing 
the nature and tendency of these elementary observances, 
which are absolutely outward and carnal, and conse- 
quently are the offspring of, and belong to, the Sinaitic 
covenant, which gendereth to bondage, which persecuteth, 
militates against, and is contrary to the covenant of grace. 

Perhaps it will be claimed, that water baptism and 
the eucharist do not belong to the Mosaic ritual, of which 
Paul was writing. AVe reply, that if the point is fairly 
established that Christ's kingdom is a spiritual covenant, 



THE ORDINANCES. 23 

which we conclude will not be questioned, then it surely 
must follow that these things are relics of that dispensation, 
which the apostle states " stood only in meats and drinks, 
and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, which gen- 
dereth to bondage." The foregoing fac-simile personifica- 
tion is so exact a description of the offspring of the 
bond-woman, that no one need be deceived. " But w r hat 
saith the scripture ? Cast out the bond-woman and her 
son : for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with 
the son of the free-woman." 

This seals the fate of these practices as Christian 
ordinances, not by our seal, but by the irrevocable man- 
date of the Spirit of inspiration. 

And how it is that wise and good men continue to 
bring them in, and claim for them an inheritance and 
heirship, in the face of such clear scripture testimony, is 
passing strange. 

The Lord Jesus fulfilled and abolished that outward, 
figurative dispensation of types and shadows, as it is 
written: "Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O 
God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the 
second," Heb. x : 9. Let us notice what it was that he 
took away, and not reinstate that which he abolished. 
Let the apostle tell it: "He abolished in his flesh the 
enmity, even the law of commandments contained in 
ordinances," Eph. ii : 15. "Will not this suffice? If not, 
we will proceed. 

The Apostle Paul remonstrates w T ith the Galatians 
thus: "But now, after that ye have known God, or 



24 THE ORDINANCES. 

rather are knowiv of God (in the New Covenant), how 
turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, where- 
unto ye desire again to be in bondage ? Ye observe days, 
and months, and times, and years (also). I am afraid of 
you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain," Gal. 
iv : 9-11. Again: " Stand fast therefore in the liberty 
wherewith Christ hath made you free, and be not entan- 
gled again with the yoke of bondage" Gal. v : 1. Here we 
have further evidence that these elementary rites subjected 
those who were exercised therein to unprofitable bondage, 
therefore Christ set his church free from this servitude. 

We should note the powerful proclivity of those early 
Christians to hold fast to outward ceremonies, and the earn- 
est zeal of the apostle to guard them against such things. 

This same eminent apostle, writing to the Colossians, 
tells them that the divine Lawgiver, in whom dwelleth all 
the fullness of the Godhead, "Had blotted out the hand- 
writing of ordinances that was against us, which was con- 
trary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his 
cross ; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he 
made a shew to them openly, triumphing over them in it. 
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or 
in respect of an holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the 
sabbath-days ; which are a shadow of things to come ; but 
the body (or substance) is of Christ," Col. ii : 14-17. 
Let us mark, why did the Lord Jesus blot out the hand- 
writing of ordinances? The apostle tells us, "Because 
they were against (and contrary to) the New Covenant, or 
life of his church." 



THE ORDINANCES. 25 

These legal rites were shadows of good things to 
come, the law itself was a schoolmaster to bring us unto 
Christ; but the substance, the reality, which was typified, 
having come, we are no longer under the schoolmaster — 
we have no more need of the types and figures. If we are 
in him and he in us, the things which represent him as at 
a distance are out of season, have vanished away. But 
was not the apostle writing of some ordinances only, leav- 
ing others to be practiced by Christians? Hear his own 
words : " Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the 
rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the 
world, are ye subject to ordinances (touch not; taste not; 
handle not ; which all are to perish with the using) , after the 
commandments and doctrines of men ? " Col. ii : 20-22. 
Now, we all know that the word all don't mean some, or a 
part, but the whole thing in entirety. And if the words 
touch not, taste not, handle not, do not mean to let 
ordinances wholly alone, we do not know what words 
the apostle could have used to convey that idea. All 
were to perish ; not even the tithe of any ordinance is 
reserved. 

Fellow-Christians, are we following the rudiments of 
the world, through our subjection to ordinances ? or are 
we dead with Christ from these perishable things ? 

If Christians had observed this apostolic command, 
and neither touched, tasted, nor handled these things, two, 
at least, of the most fruitful sources of discord and division 
would not have been handed down to harass and confuse 
the church. 



26 THE ORDINANCES. 

Bat it is claimed, that, seeing the Lord Jesus was 
baptized with water, therefore, Christians should be bap- 
tized in like manner. In reply to this plea ; be it remem- 
bered that he was circumcised also, and kept the whole 
law, fulfilled all righteousness ; and said of the law, that 
one jot, nor one tittle should in no wise pass therefrom, 
till all was fulfilled. The preparatory dispensation of 
John the Baptist was divinely apointed, as well as the 
ritual of Moses ; hence the reasonable and legitimate 
inference from this circumstance, and from our Lord's 
words to the baptist, is, that as he fulfilled the righteous- 
ness of the law, preparatory to its abrogation, even so he 
would fulfill the righteousness of John's dispensation pre- 
paratory to its passing away. " Suffer it to be so now," 
at this time, on this occasion, for it becometh us to fulfill 
this introductory ordeal, John being sent to baptize with 
water, that Christ might be made manifest unto Israel, 
which mission he had fulfilled, and bore witness to Christ 
personally. " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh 
away the sin of the world." The testimony of the baptist 
corresponds with and confirms this inference. " He must 
increase, but I must decrease." Therefore, if water baptism, 
according to John's words, was a waning institution 
eighteen hundred years ago, surely it should have found a 
terminus with the obsolete offspring of the bond-woman 
long ago. 

If the baptism of Christ in Jordan proves that 
Christians should be baptized with water, then by the 
same analogy of reasoning, it proves also, that, because he 



THE ORDINANCES. 27 

was circumcised and kept the law, therefore, we should 
observe the ritual of Moses, and tabernacle with Jesus, 
with Moses and with Elias, or John the Baptist, who* 
came in the spirit and power of Elias ; but the voice from 
the overshadowing cloud said, "This is my beloved son: 
hear ye him." 

So it is evident that all the argument which can be 
fairly drawn from this circumstance militates against 
water baptism, as a Christian ordinance. 

It is further claimed, and confidently affirmed, that 
our Lord and Master instituted the eucharist as a Chris- 
tian ordinance, and commanded baptism with water. We 
take issue with these assumptions ; and deny that such 
institution or command is found on the Sacred Record, or 
that such inference can be fairly deduced therefrom. And 
although it is not according to the common order or 
reasoning, that w r e should be required to prove a negative, 
yet these assumptions being so generally taken for granted, 
without the necessary investigation or proof, as we verily 
believe, w 7 e cheerfully undertake to show, by scripture 
testimony, and legitimate argument and inference, that 
such claims and conclusions are in error. 

We doubt not but all persons of ordinary information 
will admit that errors have been embraced, conscientiously 
practiced, and zealously advocated. Therefore, w r e cer- 
tainly ought to examine carefully for ourselves. 

And considering, further, that all are interested in a 
right understanding of everything pertaining to our holy 
religion, we do earnestly solicit an unprejudiced hearing. 



28 THE ORDINANCES. 

In approaching this most interesting and important part 
of our subject, let us keep constantly in view that the 
New Covenant is a spiritual kingdom, which we presume 
no protestant church will deny. And also, that our 
Savior did " abolish in his flesh the enmity, even the law 
of commandments contained in ordinances." Is it not, 
therefore, very unreasonable to suppose, that he, in whom 
is hid 'all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in 
wiping out a ceremonial dispensation, in order to intro- 
duce a spiritual kingdom, which "is not meat and drink, 
but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," 
would immediately re-establish some of the same rites, or 
institute others of a like nature ? But if he did do that, 
which appears so contradictory in the nature of things, 
surely we should expect to find it carefully defined, and 
set forth with indubitable clearness, as regards the when, 
and how, by whom, and to w T hom. We will see if this is 
the case in regard to carnal ordinances. 

And further, we find that the most erudite jurists, in 
the adjudication of questions of great importance, search 
the archives of legal jurisprudence, and present the decis- 
ions of other courts in similar cases, as precedents. And 
here, in a question which concerns all Christendom, surely 
it is our privilege and duty carefully to examine the Sacred 
Record, and make ourselves familiar with God's manner 
of instituting carnal ordinances. 

For the only way in which we can be brought under 
an obligation to perform a religious ceremonial act, is by 
a revelation from God, stating the obligation and clearly 



THE ORDINANCES. 29 

describing the act ; otherwise, we are naturally and of 
stern necessity in unavoidable ignorance. 

These positions are fully sustained by the dealings of 
Jehovah with his people Israel. There we find the most 
minute and extensive information was given, and the 
command for their observance emphatically asserted, and 
the different ceremonies clearly described. For example,, 
take the account of the institution of the passover, as 
recorded Ex. xii : 3-27 — twenty -four verses, command- 
ing the rite and giving instructions, as reason would lead 
us to expect, viz : a clear declaration that God required 
the observance of a ceremonial act, accompanied with 
particular instructions for the proper performance of it. 
No ambiguity here; no chance for a different construction,, 
and a consequent diversity of practice among all the 
thousands of Israel. And they were plainly told, " And 
ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance, to thee and 
to thy sons forever." 

But if we turn to the pages of ecclesiastical history, 
under this much more glorious gospel dispensation, we 
find just what reason teaches us to expect under the 
circumstances — contention, discord and division ; some 
claiming that each subject should be immersed three times, 
others quite as confidently assert that one immersion is 
sufficient, another church quite sure that a little water 
sprinkled on the subject is quite as well ; but no definite 
rule as to quantity, whether a spoonful is sufficient, or 
whether a pint should be applied. Some baptize infants, 
others denounce the practice as unscriptural. Some say 



30 THE ORDINANCES. 

something over the water and call it consecrated, while 
others think this sheer nonsense ; and so on, almost indefi- 
nitely. And in like manner, in regard to the bread and 
wine ; some administering in one way, and some in another, 
with no definite rule as to how often or how much. Con- 
sequently, no one can possibly know whether his baptism 
has been in the best way, or whether he has taken the 
bread and wine as it should have been taken. 

Let every sincere inquirer after the right way of the 
Lord, compare the relation referred to in Exodus xii 
and renewed in Deut. xvi, with what is said by our 
Lord, Matt, xviii : 19, on the subject of baptism. 

" Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing 
them in (unto) the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost." Isot a word said about water in 
the text nor in the context. And then compare the 
institution of the passover with Luke xxii: 19: "And 
he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave 
unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for 
you : this do in remembrance of me." Here are six 
words, in the last of this verse, on which the ordinance 
depends, with somewhat from the Apostle Paul to the 
Corinthians, of which more hereafter. After honestly 
making the comparisons alluded to, we think it must be 
admitted, as altogether improbable, that he who abolished 
carnal ordinances had any design, in either of these cases, 
to establish and entail a formal outward rite. Verily the 
evidence is too meager and indefinite, and these texts can 



THE ORDINANCES. 31 

be shown to have a more reasonable meaning, of which 
more in the sequel. 

We would call attention to another item of collateral 
evidence. Thus, if the Evangelists Mark, Luke, and 
John had understood our Lord to have designed a per- 
petual ordinance, by his words quoted from Matthew ; or, 
if Matthew, Mark, and John understood those six words 
as recorded by Luke, as the institution of a new outward 
ordinance, reason is, that a matter of binding and lasting 
importance, as a church ritual, would not have been 
omitted. But we find no similar command, in either case, 
given by three of the four evangelists. We do not call in 
question the words referred to being spoken by our Lord, 
in either case; but the design of them, as understood by 
the evangelist, is what we refer to. 

Again : it is a reasonable probability, that if our Lord 
had designed baptism with w T ater as an ordinance for the 
church, he would have baptized one or more, and left us a 
definite example (in the absence of any description) of 
how it should be done. Or, if his apostles had understood 
his farewell command to mean as is claimed, surely we 
would have had an account of their baptizing, calling on 
those sacred names ; but no such instance occurs. And, 
it is reasonable to believe, that we would have had one or 
more instances of the apostles celebrating the Lord's 
supper, as it is called, if they had understood it as a 
new rite. 

To claim that their coming together to break bread at 
Troas, or their breaking bread from house to house was 



32 THE ORDINANCES. 

celebrating this rite, is but admitting the want of evidence 
and exposing the weakness of the position. Seeing the 
evidence is abundant, that " breaking of bread" was a 
common expression in regard to their ordinary social 
meals. 

Hitherto we have considered these ceremonies in the 
same category, but we will now examine them separately^ 
and notice some passages of scripture which are claimed 
for their support. 

It is well known that the word " baptize," as well as the 
Greek word which is rendered "baptize "in our version, 
has a very wide range of meaning. Yet many have so 
familiarized the word in connection with water, that they 
scarcely think it can be used properly without reference to 
that element. Whereas, Baxter, an Episcopal minister of 
Nottingham, England, in a treatise on Baptism, states 
that "the greatest Baptist divines, who have ransacked 
Greek poets, philosophers, and divines, admit finding that 
there are forty-two different significations attached to the 
word by Greek authors : " — thus showing that the word 
" baptize " has no necessary connection with water, though 
it is sometimes used in that connection. 

But happily we have no need to appeal to the archives 
of Greece, nor to the admissions of Baptist theologians, 
to prove that the word has no necessary connection 
with water. We will do this from the New Testament. 
John the Baptist said of the Lord Jesus: "He shall 
baptize you with the Holy Ghost," etc. No allusion 
to water, sure, in this case; but what is meant? 



THE ORDINANCES. 33 

Answer : They should be introduced unto, made 
acquainted with, brought under the influence of the 
Holy Ghost. Again Jesus said to his followers, "John 
truly baptized with water ; but ye shall be bayjihed 
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." The 
same meaning as above. And again, shortly before he 
suffered, our Lord said to his disciples, "But I have 
-a baptism to be baptized with ; and how am I straitened 
till it be accomplished." No doubt alluding to the 
sufferings and death which he would be introduced unto, 
or be made acquainted with. 

And the apostle, " For by one Spirit are we all 
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles.' 1 
The Spirit does not baptize with water, but the believers 
were all introduced into the unity and fellowship of 
the gospel, by the one Spirit. Other instances might 
be given, but these may suffice. 

Now w r e see that one scriptural meaning of the 
word baptize is to introduce unto, to make acquainted 
with ; and that our Lord himself used the w r ord on 
different occasions with this signification. 

Another point worthy of note is, that the word 
in in Matt, xxviii : 19, is in error. Ask any Greek 
scholar, and he will tell you that the text should read, 
"Baptizing them unto, or into, the name," etc. 

Now let us notice the true reading: "Go ye, there- 
fore, and teach all nations, baptizing them unto the name 
of the Father," etc. He w T as sending them among the 
idolatrous heathen, who spoke of him as the unknown 
3 



34 THE ORDINANCES. 

God. Go ye, therefore, and introduce them unto, bring 
them to the knowledge of the true and living God, of 
his beloved Son, and the Holy Spirit. Open up to them 
the way of salvation and the hope of glory. This was 
their mission, — this is what they did. And such as re- 
ceived their testimony, and were introduced to the -knowl- 
edge of God and the w<ay of life, became heirs of the 
salvation of God ; but they that believed not, did, and 
do foil under condemnation. 

This was the drift of apostolic preaching among the 
Gentiles ; and this is no strained nor far-fetched con- 
struction, but a legitimate, scriptural application of the 
word bajjthe, giving the same sense and meaning in 
which the Lord Jesus used the word on other occasions, 
as has been shown. And further, this construction is 
in beautiful harmony with the new 7 spiritual kingdom 
and covenant of the dear Son of God. 

And w T e submit to the reader's judgment, how T much 
more rational*, and more consonant with every scriptural 
exposition of the religion of Jesus this rendering is, 
than to suppose and teach, that our holy ascending Lord 
commanded his apostles to go and sprinkle, or immerse 
men and women in water. 

We now propose to prove that the foregoing expo- 
sition of the apostolic commission is correct, by evidence 
which, to us, is conclusive. 

After the commission and sending forth of the apos- 
tles, as referred to, there was another apostle called, 
commissioned, and sent forth by the same high authority, 



THE ORDINANCES. 35 

into the same Gentile field, and for the same work 
unquestionable: — Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus 
by the will of God. And his commission being clearly 
defined, it ought, in all fairness, to settle the question in 
regard to the commission of the other apostles. Paul 
was sent to " turn men from darkness to light, and from 
the power of Satan unto God," Acts xxvi : 18. Just 
as we have represented the commission of the others: 
to turn men from their Satanical ignorance, darkness, 
and idolatry, and introduce them to the knowledge of 
God and the way of salvation. But what about Paul 
being commissioned to baptize with water? Hear his 
own declaration : " Christ sent me, not to baptize, 
but to preach the gospel," 1 Cor. i: 17. Again: "I 
thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus 
and Gaius ; lest any should think that I baptized in 
mine own name. And I also baptized the household 
of Stephanus : besides, I know not whether I baptized 
any other," 1 Cor. i : 14-16. Let us remember that 
Paul "was not a whit behind the chiefest," 2 Cor. 
x: 5, — but "labored more abundantly than they all," 
1 Cor. xv : 10, — traveling extensively through the 
Gentile world, introducing the new religion, and organ- 
izing churches, and yet had no commission to baptize any. 
Therefore, except some good reason can be shown 
why Paul was not sent to baptize with water, it ought 
not to be claimed that it is a divine institution, and 
that the other apostles were commanded to baptize with 
water, in the absence of proof, except supposition. 



36 THE ORDINANCES. 

Lest any should presume to entertain an opinion 
that Paul neglected his duty in this respect through 
fear, which would be very foreign to his character, let 
us bear in mind that, being sent to preach the gospel, 
he did not withhold lest any should think that he 
preached in his ow T n name; and surely there was quite 
as much probability that they might so think as that 
he baptized in his own name. 

Furthermore, if the man who counted not his life 
dear unto himself, so that heinight finish his course 
with joy, and testify the w 7 hole counsel of God ; yes, if 
St. Paul understood that our Lord and Master had 
commanded baptism with water, how r dare we conclude 
for one moment, that he would have insulted heaven 
by thanking God that he had neglected his ordinance 
under any circumstance. The idea is preposterous. 

We have further evidence from the apostle of the 
Gentiles, when writing to the Ephesians, who no doubt 
were strongly inclined to turn again to the weak and 
beggarly elements, as were the Galatians, and like the 
Colossians felt a powerful proclivity toward carnal ordi- 
nances, and as most Christians in this day, were disposed 
to make much ado about meats and drinks, and divers 
washings; but he certifies them with apostolic authority: 
" There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called 
in one hope of your calling ; one Lord, one faith, one 
baptism ; one God and Father of all, who is above all, 
and through all, and in you all." The apostle here gives 
a catalogue of the leading points in orthodox theology. 



THE ORDINANCES. 37 

And in strict accordance with his teaching elsewhere 
on these subjects, we accept his meaning thus : As 
surely as there is but one body, or church militant, 
composed of all that repent, believe, and walk in the 
obedience of faith ; one Holy Spirit, the Reprover, the 
Leader, the Comforter, and Sanctifier of his people ; one 
blessed hope of resurrection, immortality, and a home 
in glory ; one Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and 
Savior ; one faith, which worketh by love, and grasps the 
whole plan of divine grace in the precepts and promises 
of the gospel; one God and Father of all — so surely 
there is one and only one baptism pertaining to the New 
Covenant. In the face of this declaration, we might 
as fairly claim that there were two Lords, as to claim 
two baptisms. John the Baptist and our Lord spoke 
definitely of two. John says: "I indeed baptize you 
with water, . . . . but he shall baptize you with 
the Holy Ghost," etc. And Christ said : " For John truly 
baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the 
Holy Ghost not many days hence." Now, the two are 
fairly before us, which will we choose, seeing that we 
can claim but one as belonging to the Christian economy? 
One is John's baptism, outward, elementary, carnal; the 
other is Christ's baptism, inward, spiritual, and saving. 
If all Christians were disposed to take Paul at his 
word, we conclude there would be short parleying. 
But alas! as Lot plead for one of the doomed cities 
of the plain, and as King Saul saved some of the 
condemned sheep and oxen of Amalek, so men seek 



38 THE ORDINA]SX'ES. 

for some excuse to retain some of the carnal ordi- 
nances. 

Some presume to say that it takes the two to make 
the one. This is a very weak subterfuge- — trifling with 
common sense; and more, it is derogatory to the char- 
acter of Christ, insinuating that his baptism was not 
sufficient, but required some finite man to give it a 
finishing touch to make it complete. Some, again, 
speak of water baptism as " an outward sign of an 
inward grace." This sounds well enough, but what does 
it amount to ? What becomes of the sign when the 
water is dried off? Verily, we prefer the sign that 
Christ gave: "By this shall all men know that ye are 
my disciples, if ye have love one for another." 

A pretended minister of the gospel, in order to 
avoid the dilemma of retaining two baptisms, recently 
claimed that the promised baptism of the Holy Ghost 
occurred on the day of Pentecost, and that was the 
end of it — forgetting the declaration of Peter relative 
to the converts at the house of Cornelius: "And as I 
began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at 
the beginning." According to Peter's testimony, this was 
as emphatically a baptism with the Holy Ghost, as was 
that memorable event on the day of Pentecost. And, 
seeing that one company of Gentiles were baptized 
with Christ's baptism, we see no reason why thousands 
of others should not be, seeing we need it as much as 
they did. 

Although the Lord Jesus did not baptize with water, 



THE OEDINAIS'CES. 39 

neither is there evidence in Scripture that he commanded 
any one else to baptize, nor to be baptized with water ; 
yet some of his apostles did so baptize, and commanded 
others to be baptized. The apostles were all Jews, and 
very naturally would adopt this ancient Jewish method 
of initiating proselytes. They seemed to follow not 
only the ancient rule in this particular, but more imme- 
diately the example of John the Baptist, and let all 
observe that they baptized with water before, as well 
as after our Lord's ascension ; therefore, their practice 
in this respect is no proof that they understood our 
Lord to command it. If it should be asked, why did 
not Jesus forbid it, if it were not his will that they 
should do it ? we answer, that he did not forbid the 
observing of any of the Jewish rites ; but rather taught 
his followers to keep the law, until he should finish his 
mission. 

We would here state that the practice of this cere- 
mony, as a mode of initiation into the church, is very 
different from claiming it to be a divine ordinance. We 
believe that our Heavenly Father leaves the churches 
at liberty to practice any simple mode of receiving 
members. It is the adoption and practice of outward 
rites, and claiming that God has ordained them, and 
commanded their observance, against which we conscien- 
tiously object. 

We now propose to produce evidence and argument 
to meet, and, as we think, fairly account for the apos- 
tles' practice relative to water baptism. 



40 THE ORDINANCES. 

The case of Peter at the house of Cornelius. '"Can: 
any man forbid water that these should be baptized, 
which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" 
Acts x : 47. 

Learned commentators which we have read, state 
that this was said by Peter with direct reference to 
those Gentiles being received into the church ; which 
seems to us very reasonable, judging from the tenor of 
the expression. If Peter had looked upon it as a divine 
requisition, reason is that he would have said : These 
must now be baptized, seeing that they believe and 
have received the Holy Ghost. But far from this, we 
conceive Peter turning to the six brethren that had 
come with him from Joppa, saying : Can any of you 
object to these Gentiles being received into the church 
under the circumstances, and no objection being raised, 
he commanded them to be initiated in their ordinary 
way. 

In like manner, in the case of Philip and the Ethi- 
opean eunuch. We do not find Philip saying: See, here 
is water, and the Lord hath commanded that all converts 
must be baptized. Far from it; but to the eunuch's 
application, Philip replied: "If thou believest with all 
thine heart, thou mayest." We see that, not as an obli- 
gation, but merely as a permission, the eunuch was 
baptized. If he, the eunuch, would confess full faith 
in the Lord Jesus, he might be received into the Chris- 
tian church. 

On one occasion it was said to Saul: "Arise, and 



THE ORDINANCES. 44 

be baptized, and wash away thy sins." The inference 
is, that the baptism would wash away the sins, and 
surely none will claim that w T ater can wash away sin. 
Verily, nothing can effect this but the blood of Jesus 
Christ. On one occasion Peter said: "Repent, and be 
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christy 
for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift 
of the Holy Ghost." Again, this same Peter, preaching 
to the people, said: "Repent ye, therefore, and be con- 
verted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the 
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the 
Lord." Surely, Peter did not intend to tell the people 
two ways to get rid of their sins ; and all true Chris- 
tians know that conversion is an indispensable prere- 
quisite to the remission of sins. But more hereafter in 
regard to Peter's teaching on the subject of baptism.. 
Let us now notice with what religious zeal the 
apostles and early Hebrew Christians adhered to the 
ritual of Moses. In the forty-first year of the Christian 
era, about eight years after the ascension of their and 
our Lord, it required that remarkable vision, thrice 
repeated, and the coincident of the messengers of Cor- 
nelius standing at the gate, to convince this same Peter 
that he should go to the house of a Gentile, and preach 
Christ there, notwithstanding he had heard the com- 
mand, "Go ye, therefore, into all nations, and preach 
the gospel to every creature." Yet he was so firmly 
attached to the law, and under the bias of educational 
prejudice, that he even dared to withstand the divine 



42 THE ORDINANCES. 

command, "Arise, Peter; kill and eat." "Not so, 
Lord," etc. 

But the evidence was so overwhelming that his 
prejudice gave way, and he w T ent. 

No wonder that he still favored the ritual of divers 
washings, and no wonder that our Lord had said unto 
him and others, "I have many other things to say 
unto you, but ye can not bear them now," seeing that 
Peter could but scarce bear this enlargement, in the 
eighth year of his Christian ministry. 

Again, in the forty-fifth or forty-sixth year of the 
Christian era, certain Judaizing Christians w r ent from 
Jerusalem to Antioch, and taught the Gentile converts 
that, except they were circumcised after the manner of 
Moses, they could not be saved. We may well believe 
that they had not been taught, even at Jerusalem, to 
leave off the customs of the law. But Paul and Bar- 
nabas withstood this teaching ; yet the zeal of those 
Jerusalem brethren was so strong that they would not 
submit, even to Barnabas and Paul. Therefore, they, 
with others, went up to Jerusalen to have the question 
settled. And the first Christian Council was called, 
composed chiefly, as we suppose, of apostles and elders. 
And mark, the question was, Whether Gentile converts 
should be ruled to observe the law of Moses ? The 
obligation of the Hebrew Christians, in that respect, does 
not appear to have been called in question even then. 
In this council of apostles and elders, deliberating on 
this question, in about the fifteenth year of the history 



THE ORDINANCES. 43 

of the church, Luke tells us that there was much dis- 
puting. Yet they were favored to come to an agreement, 
and wrote the following authoritative letter to Gentile 
Christians, and to us : 

"It seemeth good unto the Holy Ghost, and unto 
us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these 
necessary things." Naming four things to be observed, 
but not one word about baptism and the eucharist. 
How were Gentile Christians to know that they ought 
to observe these things? By the decree of the church, 
or the council. This decree is circulated at Antioch 
and elsewhere at large, but no such requisitions are 
enjoined. It may be claimed that their deliberations 
were about Jewish rites ; granted, and Jewish rites were 
carnal ordinances. 

Neither do we find, on examining over twenty apos- 
tolic epistles, that these things were enjoined or required 
in any of them. 

But still further: about the sixtieth year of the 
Christian era, Paul went up again to Jerusalem, and 
let us mark the address of the apostles and elders to 
him: "Thou knowest, brother, how many thousands 
of the Jews there are which believe, and they are all 
zealous of the law; and they are informed of thee, 
that thou teachest the Jews which are among the Gen- 
tiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to 
circumcise their children, neither to walk after the 
customs." They then proposed that he pretend to be 
under a vow, etc. 



44 THE ORDINANCES. 

Hence, all may see that, although the Christian 
leaven had been working for twenty-seven years, subse- 
quent to the ascension, in addition to the transforming 
influence of three years' ministration of him w T hose 
teaching was more sublime, and more soul-stirring than 
any other before or since ; yet, there were many thou- 
sands of the Jewish Christians who were all zealous of 
the law, willing to accept the Lord Jesus, but with 
Peter, desiring to tabernacle with Moses also. And the 
apostles being all Jews, trained under the law, taught 
from infancy to revere the rites and ceremonies, sacri- 
fices and offerings, days and times as required by the 
laws ; surely, we can not wonder at their adhesion to 
these things. It would rather be cause of wonder if 
they had not baptized with water, and observed this 
relict of the passover. Now, if we will divest ourselves 
of prejudice, we may see that all that was said or 
done by Peter or others, in regard to baptism or any 
other outward rite, may be very reasonably accounted 
for, without cumbering the spiritual religion of Jesus 
Christ with carnal ordinances, and in so doing set at 
naught the definite, earnest, and persistent teaching of 
the apostle to us Gentiles relative thereto. 

But seeing that water baptism has been so long, 
so persistently, and so confidently taught, and Scripture 
passages ungraciously conscripted for its support, we 
will endeavor to release some of them from this tyranny. 
Instance our Lord's teaching to Nicodemus : "Verily, 
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be bom again, 



THE ORDINANCES. 45 

he can not see the kingdom of God." The rabbi accepting 
this expression literally, Jesus repeats, still keeping to 
his simile of two births : " Verily, verily, I say unto 
thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, 
he can not enter into the kingdom of God." Then 
explaining what two births he alluded to : " That which 
is born of the flesh is flesh ; and that which is born 
of the spirit is spirit," John iii : 3-6. Let all notice, 
there is not a word said about baptism in this con- 
nection. 

Our Lord was teaching this ruler of the Jews 
the indispensable necessity of becoming a new creature, 
and he represents with the similitude of two births. As 
born of the flesh only he is a child of wrath, therefore 
he must be born of the spirit to become a child of grace. 
In the second instance, he again speaks of two births 
only : " Except a man be born of water (or naturally), 
and spiritually also, he can not enter into the kingdom." 
He then explains: "That which is born of the flesh is 
flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." 

With any other meaning this explanatory verse 
would be foreign and disconnected. To teach that " born 
of water," in this connection, means immersed in, or 
sprinkled with water (but no one can tell which), and 
so shut out of heaven all that have not been watered 
in the right way, is extreme presumption. But if we 
will not receive the Savior's explanation, we must remain 
in error. 

Again the Apostle Peter, having his mind on the 



46 THE ORDINANCES. 

saving of Noah and his family in the ark, writes thus : 
"The like figure whereunto, even baptism, doth also 
now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the 
flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), 
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Mark, the baptism 
which Peter alludes to saves. And to suppose that the 
waters of the flood, and not the ark, were what saved 
Noah and his family, is contradictory to the record, 
and discards common sense ; for we must see that w T ater 
was the agent of destruction. Sure the inspired apostle 
did not mean that the destroying flood was a figure of 
a baptism that saves. 

Verily, they that were kept out of the water were 
saved. Is it not much safer for us to conclude, that 
God in his mercy saveth us by the washing of regen- 
eration, and the renewing of the "Holy Ghost"? Bap- 
tized (introduced) into Christ, our Ark of safety. The 
apostle guards expressly against an elementary construc- 
tion (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh). 
As well might we say that 'Lot and his daughters were 
saved by fire and brimstone; Shadrach, Meshach, and 
Abednego by the burning fiery furnace ; Daniel by the 
lions ; and Peter by the water of the sea, as to say that 
Noah was by the waters of the flood. They were all 
saved from these destroying elements. "The answer 
of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ." Now let us examine this, and see 
how Christians receive the answer of a good conscience 
through this instrumentality. The resurrection and 



THE ORDINANCE. 47 

ascension of the Lord Jesus was preparatory to the bap- 
tism of the Holy Ghost. " If I go not away the Com- 
forter will not come," etc. But by his resurrection, 
ascension and mediatorial intercession, this saving grace 
was conferred. And now, "the spirit of God, bearing 
witness with our spirits that we are the children of 
God," is the soul-solacing and the soul-satisfying answer 
of a good conscience toward God by the resunection of 
Jesus Christ, which no application of elementary water 
can confer. When we contemplate the spiritual nature 
of the Christian religion, a fact that is so generally 
admitted by Christians, and then look around at the 
thousands of baptismal fonts, and the tens of thousands 
of watery sermons, or sermons about the application of 
water as a religious rite, we are wont to inquire, "Who 
hath required this at your hands ? Is your ministerial 
commission different from that of the Apostle Paul, 
who said, i Christ sent me not to baptize'"? Dr. Halley, 
who published seven lectures on the sacraments in 1844, 
complains repeatedly, that " he finds the subject fraught 
with long and wearisome controversies, and perplexed 
with difficulties ; so that cause is afforded for those who- 
deny the propriety of those rites, to entertain serious 
objections to the views of the several parties, seeing 
that they can not agree among themselves, on the mean- 
ing of the commission and authority, which they say 
they have received for those observances." " Each party 
deprecates, refutes, and severely denounces the views of 
the others." "There seems indeed no refuge from such 



48 THE ORDINANCES. 

difficulties, but in -taking a spiritual view of the gospel 
baptism." — " State Churches," by John Allen. 

We will now refer somewhat to that other practice, 
called the eucharist, in the celebration of which so much 
imposing reverence is displayed, with devout accompa- 
nying pageantry, ostensibly to commemorate the broken 
body and shed blood of the blessed Savior ; and at the 
same time that Protestants are thus engaged, they are 
down on the Romanists with condemnation for their 
numerous formularies, their crosses, images, and pictures, 
which, forsooth, are carried on their persons, posted up 
in houses and chapels, for the same purpose, viz : to 
keep them in remembrance of him who died that they 
might live. 

We submit to any unprejudiced mind, which is 
the most impressive reminder, the image of the cross 
with that of the bleeding Savior thereon, or the breaking 
and eating of bread and the drinking of a little wine. 

We presume it will be admitted, that where any 
have come to the knowledge of the truth, and the 
facts have made so little impression on their minds that 
they are liable to forget them, are objects of pity. 

Let us suppose that a father redeems a son from 
prison who is under sentence of death, and gives him 
a suit of new clothes ; would it not be a glaring evidence 
of ingratitude, rather than a proof of love, if that son 
must needs carry with him a picture of the prison and 
a scrap of the cloth, to remind him of his father's love ? 
Verily, if the fact of his being at liberty, and clothed, 



THE ORDINANCES. 49 

does not awaken a living sense of gratitude, his virtue 
and piety must be superficial. Even so, a man that 
• is sold under sin, and led captive by Satan at his 
will ; being redeemed with a price, and given to enjoy 
the liberty of a child of God, and clothed upon with 
the white robe of Christ's righteousness, is it not shame- 
fully humiliating to suppose, that it is needful for this 
man to partake of a little bread and wine, lest he 
forget his benefactor ? We think it would indicate a 
cold and nominal devotion. Can we suppose that he 
who looketh at the heart will be pleased with such 
evidence of love? 

But the declaration is heard throughout the length 
and breadth of Christendom, "The Lord Jesus insti- 
tuted this ordinance, and commanded his apostles to 
observe it." Let us see if this be so. If there is such 
an ordinance recorded, we will find it in the relations 
of the last passover supper which our Lord ate with 
his disciples. Matthew states: "And, as they were 
eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, 
and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this 
is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, 
and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it : for 
this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed 
for many for the remission of sins," Matt, xxvi : 26-28. 
It is not intimated here that it should ever be done 
again. There is nothing recorded here which literally 
alludes to another time. Mark relates that, "As they 
did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, 
4 



50 THE ORDINANCES. 

and gave to them, and said, Take, eat ; this is my 
body. And he took the cup ; and when he had given 
thanks, he gave it to them : and they all drank of it. 
And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new 
testament, which is shed for many," Mark xiv : 22-24. 
No reference here to any future practice, no command 
for future observance. 

Luke states : " And he took bread, and gave thanks, 
and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my 
body which is given for you : this do in remembrance 
of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, 
This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is 
shed for you/' Luke xxii : 19, 20. Here are six words, 
which are almost the entire foundation for this rite. 

What do Protestant Christians say of the nine 
preceding words of this 19th verse, " This is my body 
which is given for you"? Shall we accept them liter- 
ally? The answer is prompt. By no means; that is the 
gross popish error of trans-substantiation. But what 
of those six words at the last of the verse? O, say 
they, they contain the institution of the holy eucharist, 
to be observed until the end of time. 

Multum in parvo, indeed, if that is correct. But 
how do we know this? did Jesus say, This shall be an 
ordinance unto you ? No ; but we suppose he meant it. 

Let us notice some facts which may help us to 
judge more rationally. (We will notice Paul's allusion 
to this subject in the sequel.) 

Our Lord and his apostles were celebrating the 



THE ORDINANCES. 51 

Jewish passover, and the acts performed, and the words 
spoken, with a little variation, were, in all reasonable 
probability, acts and words which were done and said 
in every inhabited house in Jerusalem. This they did 
in remembrance of their deliverance on that fearful 
night, when the first-born were slain. Now, said our 
Lord, when ye observe this feast, as oft as ye do it, 
do it in remembrance of me. 

In order to illustrate this, we will give some extracts : 
" The following custom, observed by the modern 
Jews after the practice of their forefathers, strongly 
reminds us of what passed at the last supper. Before 
they sit down, they wash their hands very carefully. 
.' . .A blessing is then asked. The master or 
chief person takes a loaf, and, breaking it, says : Blessed 
art thou, O Lord our God, the King of the world, 
who produced bread out of the earth. The guests answer, 
Amen. And the bread is distributed to them. He 
then takes the vessel which holds the wine in his 
right hand, and says : Blessed art thou, O Lord our 
God, King of the world, who hast created the fruit 
of the vine. The 23d Psalm is then repeated. 

"When the meal is finished, the master takes a 
piece of bread which has been left on purpose, and 
filling a glass or cup with wine, says : Let us bless him of 
whose benefits we have partaken. The company reply: 
Blessed be he who has heaped his favors on us, and has 
now fed us with his goodness. The master then repeats 
a prayer, thanking God, entreating 



52 THE ORDINANCES. 

him to have pity on Jerusalem and the temple, to 
restore the throne of David to Elias and the Messiah, 
and to deliver them from their low state. The guests 
all answer, Amen, and repeat Ps. xxxiv : 9, 10. Then 
each guest drinks a little of that which is left, and goes 
from the table." — " Manners and Customs of the Jews, 
and other Nations mentioned in the Bible," published 
by the Religious Tract Society. 

Again : i ' The benedictions which he (Jesus) pro- 
nounced on bread and wine, separately at his celebration 
of his last passover, with his apostles, are related 
with the very same circumstances as are to be met 
with in the Jewish rituals." — Extracted from " Cere- 
monies of the Jews," by Hyam Isaacs, a converted 
Jew. 

And again: " Supper is then put 

upon the table, and is a meal of social rejoicing. The 
supper being ended, two large cups are filled with 
wine. One of these is taken by the master of the house, 
and a blessing pronounced. This blessing refers distinctly 
to the time of the Messiah's reign : O Most Merciful ! 
O Most Merciful! make us worthy to see the days of 

the Messiah, and of life in the world to come 

Amen. After the blessing, the head of the family gives 

the cup to all those sitting around It is 

most likely that our Lord and his disciples, in all the 
ceremonial part, commemorated it in the same manner 
as we now do. The custom of dipping the bitter herbs, 
seems to accord with Christ's words: 'He that dinpeth 



THE ORDINANCES. 53 

with me in the dish; He to whom I shall give a sop 
when I have dipped it/ 

"In Luke xxii : 17, it is written: 'He took the 
cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide 
it among yourselves ; ' and in verse 20 : ' Likewise also 
the cup after supper, This cup is the new testament 
in ray blood.' The breaking of the bread being men- 
tioned in connection with this cup, gives every reason 
to suppose, that it was the hidden cake o*ur Savior 
used for this purpose, which is used in commemoration 
of the hidden manna. . . . Our Lord said unto 
them at a former period : ' Your fathers did eat manna 
in the wilderness, and are dead ; he that eateth me, 
or the bread that I give, shall never die. The bread 
which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for 
the life of the world.' It seems very appropriate to 
take that which was an emblem of the hidden manna, 
to represent the broken body, given for the life and 
nourishment of the world, as the manna w r as given to 
the children of Israel." — Brief Sketch of " The Present 
State of the Jews," by E. M. Herschel, a converted 
Jew. 

Now, in view of these customs of the Jews, we 
find that the Apostle Paul, in writing to the Corinthian 
Church, finds it necessary to give them a correct under- 
standing of the antitype, and the spiritual nature of the 
Christian passover, and participancy of the body and 
blood of Christ: "Christ our passover is sacrificed for 
us," 1 Cor. v: 7. 



54 THE ORDINANCES. 

And he admonishes and instructs them relative to 
a disorderly practice which had obtained among them. 

In this first epistle to that church, 1 Cor. x : 
10-14, he thus represents the Christian communion : 
"Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. 
I speak as unto wise men ; judge ye what I say." Two 
points should be observed in this address or salutation. 
First, it is evident, from the caution expressed, that 
he believed they were in danger of falling into an 
idolatrous practice in regard to the matter which he 
was about to introduce. And secondly, the appeal to 
their wisdom, shows his concern that they should not 
place a superficial, or carnal construction on his repre- 
sentation of the subject. "I speak as unto wise men." 
Men whom he supposed were prepared to take a spir- 
itual view of the subject. 

"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not 
the communion of the blood of Christ ? The bread 
which we break, is it not the communion of the body 
of Christ?" 

Although the apostle presents the subject in an 
interrogative form, his meaning is evidently affirmative, 
as though he had said: "The cup of blessing which 
we bless (is the) communion of the blood of Christ," 
etc. And his following words show conclusively, that 
his meaning was allegorical and spiritual, viz: "For 
we being many are one bread, and one body ; for 
we all partake of that one bread." Now, in all fair 
and reasonable construction, this is the same bread 



THE ORDINANCES. 



55 



alluded to above. The Lord Jesus said: "I am the 
bread of life. I am the bread which came down from 
heaven." And again : " He that eateth my flesh, and 
drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I in him." And 
again : " He that eateth me, even he shall live by 
me," John vi. Could this have been eating and drinking 
elementary bread and wine? Nay, verily. The apostle 
who wrote of this communion as above, enjoyed it ; 
for he said after his conversion: "The life that I now 
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of 
God," Gal. ii: 20. 

This is the life for Christians to live: "Always 
bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus 
(by faith), that the life also of Jesus might be made 
manifest in our body," 2 Cor. iv : 11. 

If we thus enjoy the communion of the body and 
blood of Christ, we submit that the Holy Spirit will 
be unto us a good and sufficient Remembrancer, a Swift 
Witness. According to his gracious assurance : " Behold, 
I stand at the door and knock ; if any man hear my 
voice, and open the door, I w T ill come in to him, and 
will sup with him and he with me," Rev. iii : 20. 

The apostle, in writing to the Corinthians, after 
explaining the Christian communion as above, addresses 
them relative to the unsocial and unchristian practice, of 
coming together to partake of what should have been a 
social meal: "Now in this that I declare unto you I 
praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, 
but for the worse. When ye come together, therefore, 



56 THE ORDINANCES. 

into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. For 
in eating, every one taketh before other his own supper : 
and one is hungry, and another is drunken," 1 Cor. xi : 
17, 20, 21. He had told them before of the com- 
munion of the saints, in participating in the body and 
blood of Christ by faith. 

Jewish history informs us that the custom prevailed 
in those days, with both the believing and unbelieving 
Jews, frequently to come together and partake in a 
social meal, to which they attached religious associations. 
That the coming together of the Corinthians was to 
participate in a social meal of this character is very 
evident. Dr. Adam Clark was so confident of this, 
and that the apostle alluded to this social meal when 
he used the expression, "the Lord's supper," that he 
considered it in error for Christians to call the eucharist 
by that name. 

He says, that "It does not appear, that this 
name (Lord's supper) was anciently used to signify the 

eucharist The Christians . . . held a 

supper before the eucharist, .... and it is very 
likely that it is to this, and not to the eucharist, that 
St. Paul refers," 1 Cor. xi: 20. He continues: "Though 
this name is now a pretty general appellation of the 
eucharist, I can not help thinking it is a very im- 
proper one ; I think, as it is not sufficiently desig- 
natory, it should be discontinued." — " Discourse on the 
Eucharist." 

We might quote other authors to establish this 



THE ORDINANCES. 57 

fact; but the preceding, with the evidence on the face 
of the apostolic relation, may suffice. 

It appears evident, that on these social occasions 
(as they were designed to be), each one brought a 
part of the provision, according to their several ability; 
but, instead of putting all into a common stock, and 
waiting until all had arrived, and then enjoy something 
like a modern love-feast, with conversation commem- 
orative of the crucifixion, they had very unwisely fallen 
into the practice of eating, "one before another," and 
thus putting the poor to shame, they having but a 
scant supply of the coarser sort. This was "for the 
worse and not for the better." The apostle, therefore, 
exhorts: "Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come 
together to eat, tarry one for another." 

All inquirers after the truth should notice partic- 
ularly that the apostle was writing to the Corinthians 
in regard to their unsociable and unchristian practice 
at those meals, and that it was in this connection, 
and w T ith direct reference to those meals, that he re- 
lates the words of our Lord, including the charge : 
"This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance 
of me." 

It seems most reasonable to suppose, that the 
Savior's words w r ere spoken with reference to their 
further celebration of the passover, and their eating 
and drinking at those sociable and commemorative 
meals, and not to a new rite. Otherwise, it appears 
very unwarrantable, and out of place, for the apostle 



58 THE OEDINANCES. 

to quote this instruction of the Master, and apply it 
to this, if it had reference to an entirely different sub- 
ject. 

Some place much stress on the apostle's words, "For 
I received of the Lord," thinking that this attaches 
particular importance to this passage, whereas, those 
who are familiar with his writing, know that this is 
not an isolated instance ; the evidence is replete that 
Paul received the whole gospel of the Lord. About 
three years before the writing of this epistle, Paul 
had resided w T ith, and preached to the Corinthians a 
year and six months. Can we suppose that he had 
so recently delivered unto them a new ordinance, and 
in so short a time they had so shamefully perverted 
it ? Surely, this would be an unreasonable supposition. 

Again, it is sorrowful to contemplate the laby- 
rinth of confusion, in which the church has been, and 
remains to be involved on this subject. She must 
needs make an ordinance of it, but has no instruction 
as to how or when, w T ho or where. Query: Should 
regularly-ordained clergymen only administer? Adam 
Clark says: "The self-appointed man in this ordin- 
ance, is an intruder into the sacred fold, .... and 
will have a solemn account to render to God." — "Dis- 
course on the Eucharist." Query : To whom did our 
Lord intend this rite should be administered, seeing 
that he spoke the words to the apostles without man- 
ifest reference to any one else? Adam Clark, in 
the same discourse, says: "Every believer and every 



THE ORDINANCES. 59 

penitent," while some other writers maintain that it 
should be given to infants also. Question : How fre- 
quently should it be received? Some have received it 
daily, others weekly; some once each month, others 
once each quarter, and others take it yearly. But, 
amid all this diversity, no one knows which is right. 

Let us query further : Did our Lord design that 
unleavened bread should be used, as when he ate with 
his disciples? Adam Clark says: " Unleavened bread, 
certainly. In this opinion I am not singular, as the 
Lutheran Church use unleavened bread to the present 
day." 

Dr. Orme says : " That he (our Lord) did not 
intend to determine anything respecting the nature of 
the bread and wine, I, at least, entertain no belief. 
Leavened or unleavened bread, the pure juice of the 
grape, or what Dr. Clark calls (with very unnecessary 
indignation), a vile compound wickedly denominated 
wine, if it be all the worshipers can afford, or procure, 
it answers every purpose which our Lord contem- 
plated."— " The Lord's Supper Illustrated." 

Thus doctors disagree; and neither they nor any 
one can possibly tell which is right. Although refer- 
ence has been made to the want of evidence that the 
bread and wine were ever used as a ceremony in 
apostolic times; yet, it is so confidently asserted that, 
in Acts xx : 7-11, Luke speaks of the celebration of 
the eucharist. It is quite easy to make this assertion, 
but altogether impossible to prove it. 



-60 THE ORDINANCES. 

Dodridge, in a note on this subject, asserts that 
"the expression, 'breaking of bread/ may undoubt- 
edly signify a common meal, and that Casauban, 
Grotius, Wolfinus, and several others, have shown that 
it has this signification." And Baxter, in his Com- 
mentary, says: "Breaking bread sometimes signifieth 
■common eating together." Adam Clark, in his Com- 
mentary, says : " Had broken bread, had taken some 
refreshment." 

It is said, that the eating mentioned in the 
11th verse above referred to, was at an unusual time 
for taking their social meal. Admitted. But it was also 
an unusual time for celebrating a rite. Again^ it is 
said, that Paul's long preaching delayed it beyond the 
usual time. Granted ; but Paul's long preaching accounts 
for the common meal being delayed also; and so the 
argument falls utterly powerless, as must all others, 
to prove the practice of such a rite. 

The early Christians, for a time, were mostly 
Jews; and as we have seen, most or all of the Jewish 
rites were tolerated and practiced for a time. Even 
the apostles were not able to endure a sudden sever- 
ance, and surrender at once their Jewish prejudices, 
and break off from the bondage imposed from the 
fearful Sinai. 

We know that it is a legitimate consequence, both 
in regard to spiritual and temporal things, that that 
which is cultivated grows ; so these relics of a former 
dispensation were introduced into the early Christian 



THE ORDINANCES. 61 

Church, and being cultivated, grew in the importance 
attached to them. And as Paul saw, and forewarned 
the church, saying: "I know that after my departure, 
shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing 
the flock. And of your own selves shall men arise, 
speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after 
them." Thus it was, men of carnal minds, getting 
place and authority in the church, they naturally 
loved and cultivated carnal ordinances; yea, they were 
zealous to do this, for it required neither a prophet, 
nor the son of a prophet, to see that, placing stress 
and consequence on ordinances, which clerical digni- 
taries only could administer, tended directly to increase 
their power and dictatorial authority in the church, 
and consequently they would pocket the emoluments 
of power. Hence, by the influence of priestcraft, rites 
and ceremonies, forms and ordinances, fasts and feasts, 
days and times were increased, pandering to the shameful, 
and yet shameless pretenses, abuses, impositions, and 
avaricious demands of the clergy. And thus was spread 
their blinding and persecuting power over Christendom. 
And as these things increased in number, and in the 
magnitude of importance attached to them, the light, 
the life, the spirit and power of the Christian religion 
waned, and what is appropriately called the dark ages 
ensued. Here we have another striking reminder of 
the testimony of the apostle : " But as then, he that 
was born of the flesh persecuted him that was born 
after the spirit, even so it is now." The one remedy 



62 THE ORDINANCES. 

yet remaineth to the church, as saith the Scripture : 
"Cast out the bond-woman and her son, for the son of 
the bond-woman shall not be heir with the son of the 
free-woman." And we are persuaded that, while these 
extraneous parasites are nursed and nurtured in the 
church, she will not shine in her wonted splendor, "clear 
as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army 
with banners." 

This dark and dismal reign of priestcraft culmi- 
nated in the papal inquisition, which was, perhaps, the 
nearest a fac-simile of the tortures and torments of the 
infernal regions ever invented by man. 

And adding a thousand fold to this impious insult 
to humanity, to say nothing of the benign religion of 
the blessed Jesus, all these abominations were practiced 
with a pretense of a holy zeal and sanctimonious regard 
for the kingdom of Christ. If any one hesitated to 
indorse their sacraments and submit to their carnal 
ordinances, their horrible tortures were put in requi- 
sition, with the Satanic ultimatum, " Conform, or die 
at the stake." 

Here is the cage of unclean birds, the sepulchre 
literally full of dead men's bones, the fruitful mother 
of abominations from which these practices were trans- 
mitted to the Protestant Church. 

Yet there were, at different times, noble and valiant 
men raised up who essayed to stem this mighty torrent 
of abomination ; but one after another were swept away 
by the turbid current, until at length Martin Luther, 



THE ORDINANCES. 63 

an Augustine monk of Eisleben, in Saxony, by the 
help of God, was enabled to stand against the accumu- 
lated and combined power of Rome and her emissaries. 
And we admire the holy confidence and righteous zeal 
with which he entered Rome's sanctum, even the secret 
place of her strength, and without gloves on his hands 
or fear in his heart, he unmasked her seven sacra- 
ments, and cast them one after another into the gulf 
of oblivious contempt, until five of them were purged 
out. But alas for Protestant Christendom ! two were 
modified and reserved. Perhaps this was as far as 
the church could bear at that time. 

Again these things were cultivated, and have grown ; 
and spiritually-minded Christians are lamenting the mag- 
nitude of their proportions in many, if not in most 
churches. And we learn that evangelical ministers on 
the other side of the Atlantic, have appealed to the 
powers that be, both of church and state, praying that 
the bold and daring strides of ritualism might be curbed 
before it overruns all, but without success ; for be it 
known, that while the mother is retained her offspring 
will claim an inheritance. 

Let us contrast our Lord's words, in regard to 
these and some other things, and see if impartial justice 
is meted to different parts of his teaching. 

In Calvary's trying hours, he said to the sorrowing 
women: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me; 
but weep for yourselves and your children" 

There is no account of Christian women making 



64 THE ORDINANCES. 

an ordinance of this injunction, and requiring all 'Chris- 
tians to weep periodically. 

But when he said to the men : " This do in remem- 
brance of me," we find his words manufactured into- 
an ordinance. 

Again : "If I, your Lord and Master, have washed 
your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet ; for I 
have given you an example that ye should do as I 
have done unto you" 

And : "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, 
baptizing (introducing) them in (unto) the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 

Now, if respect and reverence for the injunctions 
of our Lord are the constraining cause of our making 
ordinances, of some of these quotations, what becomes 
of our respect and reverence for his injunctions in 
regard to the others? 

When we look around and contemplate the great,, 
the wise, and the virtuous, which are associated together 
in the different branches of the church, ostensibly to 
carry on and carry out " the work of righteousness 
which is peace," to bring into active efficiency the benev- 
olent designs of Jesus ; and as we admire their eloquence 
and their zeal, both from the pulpit and in the teeming 
columns of the press, heralding and eulogizing this hal- 
lowed name ; holding him up as the legitimate Governor 
of the universe, the rightful Lawgiver of nations, and 
the Savior of the world, whose words are life, and whose 
precepts are the perfection of wisdom ; how can we 



THE ORDINANCES. 65 

<exp?ess our surprise, or portray the stumbling-block 
which is presented, by the palpable inconsistency which 
is so manifest that they that run may see and read 
it? That is, in placing so much stress and importance 
on some words, which, to say the most, are ambiguous 
and indefinite ; while unequivocal commands are set at 
naught, both by example and precept. 

For instance, there is, perhaps, no part of the 
Holy Bible that is more eulogized than the memorable 
sermon upon the mount. And seeing that those pri- 
mary precepts are sealed with such cogency, by the 
concluding words of our Lord: "And every one that 
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, 
shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built 
his house upon the sand : and the rain descended, 
and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat 
upon that house ; and it fell : and great was the fall 
of it," Matt, vii : 26, 27, we turn to Matt, v : 34, and 
read one of the sayings alluded to: "But I say unto 
you, swear not at all." And if the words of the Lord 
Jesus could possibly need confirmation, we have that 
confirmation from the Apostle James: "Above all 
things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, 
neither by the earth, neither by any other oath," 
James v : 12. 

Surely (as we believe), neither our Lord nor his 

apostle could have used words more positive, nor more 

comprehensive, to evade, and forever, every possible 

subterfuge and equivocation. And yet must we say, that 

5 



66 THE ORDINANCES. 

nine-tenths of the class alluded to, when called before 
legal authority to testify, and are asked, "Will you 
swear, or affirm?" answer without hesitation, "I will 
swear." And thus publicly, of choice and without 
blushing, break as positive a command of the Lord Jesus 
as there is in the Bible ; trying to find shelter under 
the idle and foolish plea, that "our Lord meant profane 
swearing ; " whereas, it is evident that he was speaking 
expressly of legal swearing. And yet, when these teachers 
read, "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing 
them in (unto) the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost," they seem all alive 
with zeal, to teach and make believe, contrary to the 
nature of the gospel dispensation, that this text estab- 
lishes a carnal ordinance, requiring that water be applied 
to every convert, although there is no mention of water 
in the text, neither is there any necessity to suppose 
that our Lord alluded to water at all ! 

Why such disparagement in regard to respect for 
different texts ? 

Again, in the same sermon and among those "say- 
ings" alluded to, it is written: "Ye have heard that 
it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for 
a tooth : but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil : 
but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, 
turn to him the other also," Matt, v : 38, 39. 

No more revenge ! no more retaliation under Em- 
manuel's government! "For if ye forgive men their 
trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you : 



THE ORDINANCES. 67 

but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will 
your Father forgive your trespasses," Matt, vi : 14, 15. 
And further: " But I say unto you, Love your 
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them 
that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully 
use you and persecute you," Matt, v : 44. Thus, with 
fatal precision, laying the ax to the root of the corrupt 
and corrupting tree of war. And we submit, that there 
is no precept of our Lord that is more thoroughly and 
repeatedly confirmed by his apostles. "From whence 
come wars and fightings among you? come they not 
hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?" 
James iv : 1. Then from Paul: "For if ye live after 
the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof, ye shall die ; but 
if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the 
body, ye shall live." Again: "Not rendering evil for 
evil, or reviling for reviling ; but contrariwise, blessing ; 
knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should 
inherit a blessing," 1 Pet. iii : 9. "Be not overcome 
of evil, but overcome evil with good," Bom. xii : 21. 
Yet strange, incongruous, and contradictory as it is, 
when the tocsin of war is heard in our land, we see 
those professed servants of the God of Love, embassadors 
of the Prince of Peace, and ministers of the gospel 
of peace, among the most active and efficient, both in 
the pulpit and from the platform, belching forth the 
most fiery invectives and inflammatory declamations; 
urging men to resentment and revenge, encouraging 
them to hasten to the field of carnage, bidding them 



68 THE ORDINANCES. 

go shoot and stab, burn and destroy, imbrue your hands 
in your brother's blood — not regarding the declaration : 
" One is your Master even Christ, and all ye are brethren.'* 
Thus notoriously engaged in that which is as diamet- 
rically opposed and antagonistic to the spirit and teaching 
of the gospel as God is to mammon. 

While those teachers ignore or neutralize these " say- 
ings " of the Lord Jesus, and so many cogently-corrobo- 
rating texts from the apostles, adjusting their consciences 
thereto, we know not how, they seem all the time ready 
to take up the words, "This do in remembrance of 
me;" and the words, "This do ye, as oft as ye drink 
it, in remembrance of me ; " and expatiate and build 
upon them, until they are magnified into an important 
and imposing ordinance. 

Why is there this marked difference in regard to 
different texts? The answer is clear to us. The one 
lays the gospel ax to the root of the carnal mind and 
natural will of man ; while the other is made to pander 
to the appetite for carnal things. 

In view of this innate proclivity of man's nature, 
and the crude and ignorant condition of the Hebrew mind, 
the law, with its sacrifices and ordinances, was given, 
and this "law was a schoolmaster to bring us unto 
Christ." But in the fullness of time God sent his Son, 
who was "the end of the law for righteousness to all 
them that believe." But this ritualistic proclivity still 
prevailed in the early church; and they who will examine 
Paul's writings, must see with what persistent zeal he 



THE ORDINANCES. 69 

labored against it. And it is humiliating to know that, 
in this advanced and enlightened age, both priest and 
people love to have it so. 

We do not wonder that the sensibilities of the clergy 
are shocked, and their zeal kindled to a flame, when 
the Divine authority of the ordinances is called in 
question, and a presaging vision looms up in fearful prox- 
imity : If the ordinances are wiped out, the people will 
see that they must look to Jesus for baptism and com- 
munion, as w r ell as for wisdom, righteousness, redemption, 
justification, and sanctification ; our craft is in danger; 
our authority, our dictation and our emoluments will 
fall with the ordinances. Rome saw this, and hence her 
zeal to quench and silence any and all opposition to 
her ordinances. 

We, too, are shocked, in view of the carnal, super- 
ficial, and mechanical accompaniments of the religion 
of our day; things w T hich are mixed in and attached 
to, as constituent parts, as attractive ornaments of that 
holy religion and w r orship, which, if acceptable to God, 
must be, in spirit and in truth, the very nature and 
certain effect of which is to transform, by the renewing 
of the mind, the affections, the desires and aspirations, 
from the things which are temporal and carnal to those 
which are spiritual and eternal ; the effect of which is to 
" crucify us unto the world and the w r orld unto us," 
so that we hereby become "dead with Christ from the 
rudiments of the w r orld." 

Herein stands the kingdom of Christ; and herein no 



70 THE ORDINANCES. 

man would take unto himself the honor and office of 
a minister of Christ, "but they who are called of God as 
was Aaron ; " men who would "take the oversight of the 
flock, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind ; " men 
who would not seek honor one of another, but keeping 
a single eye to "that honor which cometh from God 
only." God's glory would be promoted, Christ's honor 
would be magnified, and the government of the Spirit 
would prevail. Thus following the Divine Leader, walk- 
ing in the light which maketh manifest, we would see 
with the apostle that in Christ's kingdom there is but 
"one body and one Spirit, even as they are called in 
one hope of their calling, one Lord, one faith, and one 
baptism (one communion) ; one God and Father of all, 
who is above all, and through all, and in all." And one 
united anthem and acknowledgment would ascend from 
the militant church, saying : The Lord Jesus Christ is 
"Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith 
the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, 
the Almighty" even " He that liveth and was dead, (but) 
behold, (he is) alive forevermore ; Amen ; and (has) the 
keys of hell and of death." And "God the Father 
(would) in all things be glorified through Jesus Christ 
our Lord." 



THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 



THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST 



II 

A Concise Treatise on the Doctrine of the Deity 
of Jesus Christ, and the Atonement for Sin 
by his Suffering and Death on Calvary. 

When we consider the beneficent doctrine of the 
Atonement, we find it to be predicated upon certain other 
doctrines of which it is a consequence, and which prove 
it to be a necessity, viz : The Deity of Christ, the immor- 
tality of the soul, the fallen and depraved condition of 
man, future rewards and punishments, and the im- 
mutable justice of God. And in this connection, the 
Atonement requires and proclaims the Deity of Christ. 

There is inherent in man that which is shocked 
with the idea of annihilation ; we shrink with terror 
at the thought of being blotted out of existence; our 
sentient faculties are so transfused with the love of 
being, that we will submit to almost any condition, 



74 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

rather than become extinct. And we learn from the 
archives of Greece, of Rome, and other nations of antiq- 
uity, that in the darkest ages of idolatry and superstition, 
where the light of inspiration does not appear to have 
dawned, the doctrine of a future life was held and 
taught; though the idea or hope was shrouded with 
gloom and a forlorn representation. Virgil, Homer, 
and others, speak of the dead as consigned to the shades 
below, or sent to the realms of Pluto. 

Pythagoras, an ancient and eminent heathen philos- 
opher, taught that man in some sense was immortal. 
And the great and virtuous Socrates, at the hour of 
his death, expressed to his sorrowing friends the cheering 
hope that man would have a being after death with 
the gods, which would be better than his present state. 
And even the untutored foresters of America speak 
of the good Indian being transferred, after death, to a 
warm country, where game is plenty and fat ; while 
the bad Indian will be sent to a cold country, where 
game is scarce and lean ; which includes the idea of 
immortality, and future rewards and punishments. See- 
ing, therefore, that this inherent desire for immortality 
has been and remains to be of such universal prevalence, 
and is accompanied with such general faith that it will 
be so ; although the heathen notions relative thereto 
are, to a large extent, stamped with conjectural inco- 
herence, much of which is extravagantly irrational, 
being colored and distorted by the prevailing ignorance 
and abounding superstition of different ages and coun- 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 75' 

tries ; yet these facts furnish strong presumptive evidence 
of reality at the bottom, or behind the scene. For we 
can not reasonably conclude that a God of love, and 
of mercy, would create in man a longing desire for 
something which would never be realized. 

The Jews did not constitute an exception to this 
general rule of expectancy of a future life ; but by the 
light of revelation they were largely confirmed therein 
through their prophets, though but little allusion thereto 
is found in their early history : God, in his unerring 
and inscrutable wisdom, having reserved for his well- 
beloved Son to bring life and immortality to light through 
the gospel, and to demonstrate the reality by his resur- 
rection from the dead. And he encouraged his disciples, 
pointing them to a hope and a home beyond the confines 
of mortality, with words of cheer, viz : " Great shall 
be your reward in heaven." Showing largely, not only 
the blessed hope of the righteous, but the deplorable 
state of those who reject the offer of mercy through 
him. "It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, 
Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for 
Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum." At the end of 
this world, the Son of Man shall send his angels, and 
gather out of his kingdom all that offend. In the last 
judgment he will say to the righteous : " Come, ye 
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared 
for you from the foundation of the world." And of 
the wicked: "These shall go away into everlasting pun- 
ishment," etc. 



76 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

These, and numerous other passages of scripture, 
in allusion to a future state of existence, are- verified 
and sealed by the resurrection and ascension of Christ. 

Both reason and revelation attest that man was 
created upright; but constant experience proves him to 
be perverse, deceitful, and desperately wicked. Therefore, 
he must have fallen from his first estate. And accepting 
the authority of " Holy Scripture, which can not be 
broken," we find that his degeneracy is the legitimate 
consequence of his disobedience to the mild and benefi- 
cent government of his Creator. And feeling the force 
of guilt, condemnation, and shame, because of their 
ungrateful disobedience, they sought to hide themselves 
from the Divine Presence, with a feeling comparable 
to that of Dr. Young's Altamont, when he exclaimed, 
"Heaven, to me is the severest part of hell!" and 
as those self-condemned culprits which John saw when 
on Patmos' sea-girt isle, crying to the mountains and 
rocks to fall on them, and hide them from the face of 
him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the Lamb. 
Self-exiled, but utterly powerless in regard to self-restora- 
tion, and consequently without one ray of hope, £ave 
only in unmerited mercy. Man being a constant pen- 
sioner on the Divine favor, for all that he is and all 
that he hopes for, he can not do anything to reprieve 
his loss or atone for his sin. Consequently, in looking 
forward beyond Time's remotest verge, he is still an 
alien — nothing present but darkness and interminable 
despair — lost to hope, and lost to heaven ! 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 77 

Some will say : Those who transgress, and those 
only, should be affected thereby. We reply, that, 
according to the common rules of equity, if a father 
forfeits an estate, his sons can not inherit it because 
their father had once owned it. 

By transgression our prime ancestors lost the inher- 
itance of paradise; lost their innocence, became degen- 
erate and perverse, and their offspring inherit their 
perverse and degenerate nature (but not their guilt), 
for a stream can not, by a natural process, rise higher 
than its fountain. But God in mercy interferes, without 
conditions, where he has given no capacity to understand 
and accept conditions; as set forth by the apostle: "As 
by the offense of one (our first parents), judgment came 
upon all men unto condemnation, even so, by the right- 
eousness of One (Christ Jesus), the free gift came upon 
all to justification of life." 

Be it observed that the condemnation, and the justi- 
fication alluded to, are placed precisely on an equal 
basis. Not condemned beyond the possibility of redemp- 
tion, and not justified beyond the possibility of falling 
away. 

By this beneficent arrangement, all that die before 
they come to the knowledge of good and evil, are justified 
and saved by the righteousness of Christ. But we have 
inherited " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, 
and the pride of life." And "Lust, w 7 hen it hath con- 
ceived, bringeth forth sin; and sin, w T hen it is finished 
(or committed), bringeth forth death." For "the wages 



78 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through 
Jesus Christ our Lord." We would exclaim with the 
apostle : " Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." 
All having sinned, as saith the apostle, and having 
come under condemnation for our own transgression, 
and knowing the consequence of sin, we are uneasy, 
anxious, unhappy, and are wont to inquire with the 
prophet, whether there is anything we can do? any 
sacrifice which we can make that will restore us to favor? 
But seeing that God is infinite in all his attributes, and 
is not worshiped with men's hands as though he needed 
anything, there is no hope in that direction. We next 
inquire, May we not hope to prevail by procuring the 
intercession of prophets, priests, or kings, of saints, liv- 
-ing or glorified? Let the psalmist answer: "None 
of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give 
to God a ransom for him." Again, from the prophet: 
"Though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job, were 
in it, they should deliver but their own souls, by their 
righteousness, saith the Lord." 

O, vain man! "Help is laid on One that is mighty, 
and able to save to the uttermost all those that come 
unto God by him," and only on him is help laid, "for 
there is no other name under heaven, given among 
men, whereby we must be saved." But, in the face 
of man's helpless and hopeless condition, God's immu- 
table justice must be sustained, or one of his attributes 
would be marred. His law is broken, the criminal 
can not be set free and restored to favor, except he be 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 79 

justified. Therefore the agonizing cry from the despair- 
ing soul: " A Savior, or I die; a Redeemer, or I perish 
forever." 

Thus forlorn : 

" God saw us ruined in the fall, 
Yet loved us, notwithstanding all." 

And in the infinitude of his love, he undertook 
redemption for us, as set forth by the prophet: "And I 
looked, and there was none to help; therefore, mine own 
arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it sus- 
tained me." 

This incomprehensible beneficence is thus spoken 
of by the apostle: "God so loved the world, that he 
gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
in him should not perish, but have eternal life." 

And in the Son of God we behold an emanation 
from deity, and an emanation of deity. As saith the 
apostle: "God was manifest in the flesh." Not hid, 
but manifest. + 

Now let us consider the mission of the immacu- 
late, incarnate Son of God to this sin-blighted world. 

Answers : To bring in everlasting righteousness, to 
make reconciliation, to save sinners, to make atone- 
ment for the sin of the whole world, to give his life a 
ransom for many, and to shed his blood for all men ; to 
be a sin-offering for us, that we might be made the 
righteousness of God in him. To preach the gospel to 
the poor ; to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the 



80 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

opening of the prison to them that are bound ; to pro- 
claim the day of vengeance ; to bear witness of, and 
demonstrate the doctrine of the resurrection and gen- 
eral judgment. 

Though brilliant rays of gospel light break forth 
and shine in east and west, in north and south, where 
darkness long hath brooded; in foreign lands, and in 
this land much blessed — all cheering the laboring few 
to still proclaim the glorious tidings : Christ has come 
to save his people from their sins, joyous hope looks 
round, and prunes her drooping pinions, as heralds 
tell, and chronicles proclaim the earnest and persistent 
efforts of Christ's embassadors, who, with holy zeal 
and with the Spirit's power, tell of the Babe at Beth- 
lehem ; the man of sorrows, e'en the crucified ; our 
Lord and Master; our Savior, and our Judge; by angels 
worshiped, and by saints and seraphs honored and 
adored. 

Yet, signs of the times, portentous as they pre- 
sent to the observing eye, clip the pruned w T ings of 
hope, and push far back in obscure distance, fond expec- 
tation of millennium day. And cruel fears oppress the 
mind, and facts confirm our fears as clouds of unbelief 
loom up, and skeptic doctrines fleck the spacious vault 
of Christendom, evincing clear, that many students of 
the sacred law, and teachers too, who post themselves 
as guides, have failed, alas, to note, with due appre- 
ciation, the true character of Him who is, and was, and 
is to come, "The Lord our righteousness." Hence, may 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 81 

be traced, to great extent, the awful infidelity abroad, 
and want of power in Christian faith to meet and 
break the tide of sin. Yet this is cloaked 'neath high 
profession of the name of Christ. 

We do aver, that, in the Holy Book, no other 
being, high nor low, in heaven nor on the earth, is 
called the Son of God (save Adam by creation), nor 
Jesus Christ, but he of virgin born in Bethlehem, and 
died that shameful death on Calvary, in Judea's land, 
when Pilate governed there. He was, and is the Son 
and Christ of God. And living faith in him, his offices, 
and his attributes, is the one foundation sure, by God 
ordained for Christian edifice, 'gainst which the storms 
of time, nor the gates of hell can ever prevail. 

While the unbeliever, on the other hand, stands 
self-reliant, asking no ransom by another paid, and spurns 
the pardon bought on Calvary, and will not bow before 
the Nazarene, thick clouds of darkness gather round, 
confusion, anguish, and despair meet him at every door 
where he would fain escape, or enter in. I am the door, 
Emmanuel said ; ye can not come unto the throne 
except ye come by me. No other name hath ut'rance 
found beneath the dome on high, that opes salvation's 
portals, save that of Jesus Christ. On him he will not 
call. The sentence, sealed without reversion, stands : 
11 He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but 
the wrath of God abideth on him," John iii : 36. 

Yet all must own that enough is given, since Moses 
and the prophets did suffice God's justice to sustain, 
6 



82 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

in days of yore, when faithful sage spake to that 
wretched man, renowned for sumptuous fare and cos- 
tume of the purple dye, for we have those and more, 
e'en gospel-proof, as on evangelist's page, endorsed in 
full by apostolic pen. But worse, forsooth, if worse 
can be, than open unbelief and bold denial as of Phar- 
isees, the course of some who talk of Christ, and make 
profession high, claiming to honor and believe in him; 
but mystifying all, and leaving Jesus out; the Cru- 
cified ignored; the title and the homage too, which 
men inspired, and holy angels have ascribed to him, 
and which the Father has ordained his due, all given 
to a Spirit Christ. Thus the unwary are beguiled and 
caught in fatal snare. 

In Holy Book the evidence is filed away secure, 
and in the sequel will be brought to view, that in the 
plan of grace divine, beneficent to man, God omniscient, 
with power his purpose to fulfill, ordained, and in 
due time did consummate a union, grand and glorious, 
of the divine and human ; manifest to men and angels 
in the virgin's son, of Mary born in Bethlehem, and Son 
of God, as Gabriel testified: "A Savior born," " Em- 
manuel," the " Word made flesh," "all knees shall bow 
to him, and ev'ry tongue confess that he is Lord of lords, 
and King of kings." This display of grace divine, the 
fairest gem of glory bright in the refulgent diadem of 
heaven's eternal King, e'er oped to mortal view. And 
they whoe'er, in word or thought, this union would 
contemn, annul, divide, imperil all just hope in Christ. 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 83 

Preliminary to the point in view, we will note the 
proneness of the human heart, led captive by the 
tempter's guile, to disbelieve and set at naught the 
evidence vouchsafed ; replete from first to last, from 
age to age, through all the course of time, both that 
God was and is a living God, holding the mighty 
scepter of the universe, rewarding all according to just 
laws, and keeping mercy, and dispensing free to all who 
do believe, and live the life of faith. Though veiled 
from view, his works declare his being and his power, 
both day and night, in heaven above, and on the 
earth beneath. 

How full, how forcible, and repeated oft the evidence 
to Israel of old, on the banks of Nile, at the Red Sea, 
at Horeb, and the fearful Sinai, with that mysterious 
pillar day and night still hov'ring o'er their camp, with 
showers of manna, nocturnal and unfailing to supply 
their need. But Moses gone away, he w 7 ho was hon- 
ored at the heathen court, who held his rod athwart 
the Red Sea waves, and smote the sterile rock at 
Meribah ; now merged some days from view, amid 
the smoke and thunderings of the awful mount. How 
impudent, flagrant, and insulting was their unbelief, 
demonstrated by the hue and cry throughout that rebel 
host: Up, Aaron, up, and make us gods to lead us 
on. The man that brought us from Egyptian land, 
and led us here, is gone, we wot not where, nor what 
his fate may be. Well would the Messianic words 
apply to them and many now: "O fools, and slow 



S4 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

of heart to believer' But then, and oft in after time, 
did Israel turn from him who broke their bonds in 
Rameses, and led and fed them with an outstretched arm 
invincible. Not only turn away from him, but vilely 
fall in prostrate adoration to metal, wood, and stone; 
this, too, was done in face of evidence full fraught with 
wonder then and now. Witness the swollen current 
of old Jordan's rapid stream cut off; a wall of 
water rose and harmless stood, while millions crossed to 
Gilgal's camp on Canaan's happy shore. At Jericho 
the massive walls crumbled and prostrate fell without 
a blow, at sound of horns and shout of Israel's host. 

For a whole day the solar orb stood still o'er Gibeon, 
likewise the moon held fast o'er vale of Ajalon, till 
loosed again by Nature's sovereign Lord. 

That thrilling scene on Carmel's brow, when fire, 
descending from on high, consumed the Tishbite's sac- 
rifice: old Nature's course reversed without a jar; the 
shadow backward came for ten degrees on dial of their 
king. 

Thus, as per force, from time to time were they 
constrained to own the Great I Am, and cry aloud : 
" The Lord, he is the God!" None else can help or 
save ; none else refresh the earth with genial showers, 
nor make the sun to shine and give her warmth. Long 
suff'ring, still Jehovah bore with unbelief, and sent 
his prophets forth to warn and woo, from early morn 
till locks were wet with evening dew, crying aloud in 
streets and lanes, and in the market-place: Come, 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 85 

saith the Lord, and hear fair reason's voice; your sins, 
though many, and of scarlet dye, or as crimson glare, 
both far and near, I'll pardon all, and blot out every 
stain, if ye will hearken to my words, believing in my 
name. 

At length the time had come for the fulfilling of 
the promise true, to patriarch of old, and through 
prophetic vision bright of Virgin's Son, and exalta- 
tion of fair Bethlehem among the cities of Judea's 
land. 

The yearning love of God, which finite knowledge 
can not comprehend, was demonstrated through the send- 
ing of his Son, of woman born, deity personified. 

From early dawn of man's existence, and through 
intervening time, he failed to grasp, and hold abiding 
faith in God intangible and invisible; hence, his pro- 
clivity intense to idol worship. But now he's left with- 
out one plea for unbelief. No dumb idol this, of metal, 
wood, or stone; but living reality, in man's own like- 
ness, and " express image of the Father too." 

And, that doubts, and fears of disappointment, 
of magician's art, should forever be removed, Jesus 
Christ, this God incarnate, demonstrated to man's nat- 
ural senses, power which Deity alone could wield ; power 
over all disease and over death, over demons and the 
elements of nature, all power, in short, that man could 
comprehend. 

What say you now, ye rulers of the Jews? Your 
old excuse is met, you now can see, and hear, and 



86 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

handle, 1 John i : 11. Will ye now believe, and own 
your rightful Lord ? 

Promptly the men of Israel answered: "No; but 
we will stone thee for blasphemy, because thou being 
a man, makest thyself God." 'Tis done! God will do no 
more, nor longer wait. The dernier message falls from 
hallowed lips: "Except ye believe that I am he, ye 
shall die in your sins." Believe that I am he! E'en what 
he made himself. 

Their house in desolation stood, their peace was 
gone, and swift destruction swept Judea's land. Hoping 
to succeed, can we presume to meet, reject, and set at 
naught the same evidence 'gainst which they fought 
and fell ? 

These things were written for our learning, that 
we might repent, believe, and live. Shall w T e entrench 
ourselves behind Jerusalem and her bulwark ? Alas ! 
she is razed, and all her glory gone — adding another 
fearful proof of high anathema 'gainst this sin of unbelief. 

We said, a union was ordained in early dawn of 
time, twixt the divine and human, and in due time it 
was consummated. The Word made flesh. 

This was foreshadowed by the mandate spoken to 
the arch fiend. The woman was beguiled, and brought 
to shame and woe; yet "woman's seed shall bruise thy 
head," and victor stand o'er thee and death in all his forms. 

And keeping hope alive with woman's vanquished 
race, midst toil and pain and death, this bright assur- 
ance was renewed and amplified from time to time, as 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 87 

centuries rolled on, unfolding more Jehovah's love and 
purpose grand. To him who cultivated faith, e'en 
Terah's son ; to Isaac, and his second-born, the cheering 
promise came: "In thy seed, in thy seed, and in thine, 
shall nations all and families be blessed," Gen. xxii : 18, 
xxvi : 4, xxviii : 14. 

These saw that coming day with joy ; and not these 
only, for, lo ! the hero of the desert, cradled on the 
banks of the Nile, who barefoot stood at Horeb's burn- 
ing bush, and held communion high on Sinai's quaking 
mount, saw and proclaimed to Israel's wandering tribes : 
Behold! a seer shall come; a prophet shall arise, e'en 
of your brethren, sent by the Lord of hosts ; and we 
will add, as Jesus said of Zachariah's son, "Yea, and 
much more than a prophet." A greater than Solomon; 
a greater than Jonas; a greater than he who wore the 
camel's hair, with leathern girdle bound, and came in 
spirit of translated seer, who testified of Christ : I am 
not worthy e'en his shoes to bear. The Son of God, 
by word and will supreme, of woman born, of Terah's 
race; the Shilo that should come. A prophet sure, 
all treasure hid in him, of wisdom and of knowledge, 
present, past, and through all time to come. He who 
all other prophets did inspire, and wisdom gave to priests 
and kings. 

Why feign incredulous surprise, when told of one 
so low, in manger laid, no palace couch, nor pillow soft 
whereon to lay bis head ? and yet supernatural, all 
things made by him, John i : 3 ; Eph. iii : 9 ; Ps. 



88 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

xxxiii : 6 ; Col. i : 16, 17. The fullness of all deity 
in him, omniscient wisdom, and unbounded power. Meet 
demonstration of Jehovah's o'eryearning love to man. 
No need to wander wide o'er giddy hights of speculative 
thought, nor down through mystic labyrinth, where 
finite reason wrecks, in ruin's gulf on rocks of unbelief, 
seeking to fathom and unvail infinitude. Accept, and, 
as a child, believe what is revealed. Christ was and is 
the holy Son of God legitimate; a union preordained, 
true God and perfect man, ne'er to be sep'rate more. 
Believing this, the scheme of grace is reconciled ; deny- 
ing this, the Jews are stumbling still ; and learned 
pseudo Greeks still sneer and jest with ridicule, the 
thought of Jesus crucified ; but the day is hastening 
near, when Jews and Greeks, the unbelieving throng, 
with one accord, " shall bow, and own him Lord of all." 
But mercy then, alas, for them, has ta'en her flight, 
and soared to worlds on high. 

But to resume: the proof, that all must own on judg- 
ment day. Evangelic seer of old was shown in vision 
by the Lord of hosts, and wrote it down for us. Thus : 
i( And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, 
and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in 
a dry place ; as the shadow of a great rock in a weary 
land," Is. xxxii: 2. Again : "Who is this that cometh 
from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this 
that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness 
of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty 
to save," Is. lxiii: 1. A man thus magnificently repre- 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 89 

sented, a God man truly. The storms of life will come 
anon, tempests gather and burst both o'er and round, 
and wave of death engulph us all, by faith we shelter 
with the Son of man. His name a tower secure, where 
we are safe through faith, in life, in death, and in the 
world to come. Protracted drouth prevails, supplies cut 
off, the poor and needy water seek, but all is parched and 
dry ; but here's a fount that never fails — rivers of water. 
Thanks be to God for the sufficiencies of his supplies 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. This man from Edom 
bound, with vesture dipped in blood, mighty to save, 
"able to save to the uttermost, all those that come 
unto God by him ; " on vesture and on thigh, his name 
inscribed, "Lord of lords, and King of kings!" This 
second Adam, "the Lord from heaven," great Brother 
Man, who passed the gates of death, was dead and is 
alive forevermore. This triumph won for us, and the 
assurance given, my brethren shall awake, and from 
thy grasp, O death, be free, many did arise, and others 
"shall." 

Again the prophet speaks, still more distinct and 
clear: "A Virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and 
shall call his name Emmanuel," Is. vii : 14. 

Full- seven centuries had come and gone before 
the advent day, yet 'twas fulfilled in the birth of Christ, 
as Matthew doth record, and gives interpretation too. 

Emmanuel meaneth, " God with us" This name 
prophetic, to the Son was given, of virgin born, and not 
to Spirit Christ. If ye will cavil here, turn o'er and 



90 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

read again : "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is 
given ; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsel- 
lor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince 
of Peace." Mark the coincidence : "A Virgin shall bear 
a Son." A virgin did bear a son. "Unto us a Son is 
given." God so loved the world that he gave his only- 
begotten Son, that whosoever believed in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life. "A Son is given." 
The Father owned him on the Jordan's bank, and on 
the mount when he was glorified. " This is my beloved 
Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." But 
time foretold arrives, when prophet's words must be 
fulfilled ; no longer time for speculative doubts among 
the host of scribes and Pharisees. The Lord who was 
foretold, who was sought, suddenly to his temple came, 
as prophet testified. But first for confirmation. Gabriel, 
celestial messenger commissioned from on high, pro- 
claimed to pure and pious Hebrew maid, that she should 
bear a son, by the o'ershadowing power of Him who 
rules on high ; and who had said, "Let there be light," 
and light did shine o'er realms of ancient night pro- 
found. This Son divine should bear the title high of 
Son of God. By him his people should be saved from 
sin. Salvation here ascribed to him. A Savior born 
in Bethlehem, again announced by joyful seraph on 
the advent night. The Son of God, of woman born, 
Emmanuel. This child of Mary, by authority supreme, 
is called, "The mighty God," "The Lord of Glory," 
"Lord and Master," "God with us," "My Lord and 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 91 

niy God," "Lord of lords and King of kings." And 
it follows, of stern necessity, that he was superhuman 
and divine, as Paul affirmed of him, "The second man 
is the Lord from heaven," 1 Cor. xv : 47. Otherwise 
these titles stand in flagrant error on the sacred page, 
misnomers all, deceiving all who read. But God can 
not err ; therefore, these titles can not be in error. How 
would our sensibilities be shocked, should any one pre- 
sumptuous dare address his fellow-man, though the most 
noted in the church or state : Thou Son of God, Thou 
mighty God, My Lord and my God ! Yet that these 
are due to Jesus Christ, 'twere impious to deny. 

" What think you of Christ is the test, 

To try both your faith and your scheme ; 
You can not be right in the rest, 
Except you think rightly of him." 

The time having come for the Son of God to enter 
the arena of conflicts, owned by his Father and forerun- 
ner too, "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away 
the sin of the world." And as we follow him through 
the eventful course of his ministry, What more? we 
would inquire of the most incredulous skeptic. What 
more conclusive proof would you ask of Deity than 
was given by him ? 

He left the throng at Jordan, and after fasting 
forty days in the mountain defiles of Judea, he obtained 
a triple victory over the arch-fiend, a practical proof 
of his declaration, "I have overcome." This encounter 



92 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

sought and won, forth he went in exercise of power 
divine, gratuitous, benevolent. 

From Beersheba to Dan, the blind, the halt, the 
maimed, the deaf, the dumb, the withered, and those 
prostrate with palsied limbs, were brought from far and 
near, and he, in pitying mercy, healed them all. As 
represented by the pious bard : 

" The woes of men his pity moved, 
Their peace he still pursued ; 
They rendered hatred for his love, 
And evil for his good." 

No complicated medical preparation for leprosy, 
dropsy, nor spasms ; no critical ophthalmic operation to 
give sight to the blind ; no galvanic or magnetic experi- 
ment to raise the dead. A word from his sacred lips, 
or a touch of his garment, and the most obstinate disease 
was cured. He cried aloud at tomb of Bethany : 
"Lazarus, come forth!" and lo ! the cold corpse of him 
that had been dead four days, came forth alive. His 
creative power, at different times, made little food satiate 
the want of hungry thousands. When raging storm 
convulsed the Sea of Galilee, and ship engulphed, lay 
found 'ring in the waves, he spoke the word of power 
supreme, "Peace, be still;" all things subservient to 
his will, the wind and waves at once were calm. When 
he would cross Gennesaret to work on the other side, 
he tarried not for boat or ship, but walked securely on 
the treach'rous waves. And when sinners vile before 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 93 

him bowed, stained with guilt, but bathed in penitential 
tears; with pitying heart compassionate, he spoke the 
gracious words, "Thy sins are forgiven thee," and all 
their guilt was gone. The Son of man, with power on 
earth all sin to wash away. With power to kill, and 
power to make alive, power to call down angelic legions 
strong, full power by word or will, to palsy ev 'ry limb, 
and silence ev'ry tongue in death. Mark what he suf- 
fered for our sinful race in the garden of Gethsemane, 
from Jewish council, Pilate's judgment hall, and then 
consummated out on Calvary. In face of vilest hate, 
inflamed to fiendish cruelty, while torturing agony 
of murderous crucifixion thrilled through ev'ry nerve, 
with untold weight of human guilt oppressed, and spite- 
ful insults ringing in his ears. Hark to the gracious 
accents uttered by him then: "Father, forgive them; 
they know not what they do." 

How rich in mercy, how unwilling still, that e'en 
relentless foes should great salvation miss, and launch 
forever on the shoreless sea of woe impending. 

So loving then and now, that gospel light in living 
rays flows on, still resting on the central truth that 
"Christ is Lord of all," and "Jesus is the Christ." 
This gospel truth, Paul and Apollos, mighty in the 
scriptures, and pressed by Holy Ghost, both testified and 
proved to Jews and Gentile world. The devils e'en 
believed, and trembling in their hate, confessed the Holy 
One. 

But to resume. Amidst collected wisdom and 



94 THE DEITY QF CHRIST. 

research combined, of philosophic sages of the Hebrew 
schools, and Greece, and Rome, and all the Gentile 
world, Emmanuel ethics taught, which cast all others 
in the sombre shades, outshining all in annals of the 
world. A system full and faultless, nothing wanting, 
nothing overwrought. So pure, so perfect, and so clear, 
e'en Jewish envy and malignant hate were forced with 
admiration to applaud. "Man never spoke as this man 
speaks." And why? He taught with high authority, 
and not as groveling, guessing scribes. The Law by 
Moses w T as to Israel given ; but gospel grace and saving 
truth by Jesus Christ did come. 

Moses, though honored more than other men in 
Egypt and in wilderness ; yet, as apostle saith : The 
man Christ Jesus hath more honor than this noted 
man — as builder hath more honor than the superstruc- 
ture built. Great contrast this : one finite, and receiving 
all he hath ; infinite the other, giving gifts to men. 

The great Hebrew sin, as we have seen, was unbelief 
in the deity of Christ. This sin is still extant in the 
world, alas ! and largely too, among those who claim 
the name of Christ. " For a good work we stone thee 
not (exclaimed the Jews) ; but for blasphemy (gross) ; 
because thou, being a man, makest thyself God," John 
x: 33. Here was the Hebrew quarrel based; and let 
us Christians pause before the Rubicon is crossed, and 
we are found on Hebrew ground precise. If Jesus made 
pretense to be what he was not, his character is stamped 
irrevocable, imposter vile, where'er the Record goes, 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 95 

and we with shame should blush to own discipleship, 
or name of such an one. A Christian called would be 
disgrace, instead of highest honor e'er attained by man. 

At present, waving all prophetic words, and the ful- 
fillment too, mark what he said of unbelieving Jews ; 
"If I had not done among them the works that no other 
man did, they had not had sin ; but now have they no 
cloak for their sin," John xxii : 24. The evidence, col- 
lateral and direct, to Jews vouchsafed, has come to us 
without the prejudice instilled by priests and Pharisees; 
therefore, still less can we find plea for unbelief. 

The case is one of life or death ; let's face the 
evidence direct, and weigh it well. We're judging for 
ourselves. On faith in Christ is poised our weal or woe. 
If we believe in him, contrary to the truth and w 7 ill 
divine, what vantage can we have for faith that's false? 
The junior son of Zebedee wrote on sacred page: "In 
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
God, and the Word was God. All things were made by 
him, and without him was not anything made that was 
made. . . . And the Word was made flesh, and 
dwelt among us," John i: 1, 2, 14. 

This is too clear for controverting quibble. We 
must believe, or know that we do not believe. 

The Word which was God was made flesh, and dwelt 
among men, in the person of Jesus Christ; therefore, 
Jesus Christ was God. 

Much corroborating proof is found. Take this from 
Paul: "For by him were all things created that are in 



96 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible; all 
things were created by him, and for him, and by him all 
things consist/' Col. i: 16, 17. These things were written 
of the Crucified, and none but Deity created all, and all 
things doth sustain. 

Again : Paul wrote of the crucifixion of the Lord of 
glory: 'Twas not a spirit that was nailed and pierced, 
but Mary's son, of whom the apostle wrote. And Jonas' 
son, on pentecostal day, said to the gathered tribes: "Let 
all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath 
made this same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both 
Lord and Christ," Acts ii: 36. Where will we find 
more care identical precise? This same ye crucified, both 
Lord and Christ ordained. 

If this is mystical, obscure, and cunningly devised, 
what is, or can be plain ? 

Again, thus said the Son of man : " Ye call me Mas- 
ter, and ye call me Lord, and ye say well, for so I am." 
And further: "Ye believe in God, believe also in me." 
What faith was here alluded to? They had witnessed 
his wonderful works, their hearts had burned within them 
as they had listened to the sublime wisdom of his teach- 
ing ; surely they did believe that he was a great and a 
good man ; yea, they believed that he was the Messiah 
that was to come, yet they did not believe that he 
was Deity. In this connection, Philip said unto him: 
"Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Or, 
show us Deity, and we will be satisfied. Now, mark 
his answer well, how earnest and emphatic too: "Have 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 97 

I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not 
known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the 
Father," or hath seen Deity, — e'en "the brightness of 
the Father's glory, and the express image of his person." 
"Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in 
me; or else believe me for the very w r orks' sake." At 
another time: "I and my Father are one; will ye not 
believe his words?" "The Father hath committed all 
judgment unto the Son: that all men should honor the 
Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth 
not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent 
him," John v: 22, 23. 

Mark here the purpose high of heaven's eternal 
King: "That all men should honor the Son, even as they 
honor the Father." How impious then for finite man 
to think to thwart the purpose of Omnipotence. With 
laud and praise and alleluiahs loud, and with reverence 
profound, w T e deify the Father. Why not the Son, as 
angels did and do, since God has willed it so? 

Hark to echoing symphonies of the ecstatic and 
adoring throng innumerable, both seen and heard, by 
Patmos' saint, in realms of joy and peace : " Blessing, 
and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth 
upon the throne, and unto the Lanb forever and ever." 
The Lamb of sacrifice, whose blood redemption bought. 
The Lamb proclaimed by Baptist John, bearing the sin? 
of man : " O Lamb of God, well done." We do entreat 
of all, to note the will of God, the Father. Judgment 
day will come. The Son ordained the Judge of quick 
7 



$3 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

and dead. All judgment is assigned to him, that all men 
should honor him with honor due to God ; he that doe3 
it not, the Father's honor can not magnify. "He that 
honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath 
sent him." Was not the material son of virgin born, 
"that holy thing in manger laid, the Son of God? This 
truth denied, then he was basely born, for Mary was not 
wed, and Christ with Christianity must sink in Stygian 
gulf of utter infamy ; for we repeat, no other being of 
record in the Holy Book is nomered Jesus Christ, nor Son 
cf God (save Adam incidentally), but this same Jesus 
that was crucified, who, by, and with the full concur- 
rence of the eternal Holy Ghost, offered himself without 
spot, ... to purge our conscience from dead works 
to serve the living God." 

Let's stand again on Patmos' shore, and with apostle 
lend an ear to those ten thousand times ten thousand 
and thousands of thousands. .Hark the loud acclaim : 
" Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and 
r'ches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and bless- 
ings. This to him that was slain." 

Can we suppose that Jews or Gentiles e'er a spirit 
caught and slew ? It's too absurd. If ye should enter 
that abode celestial, and presume to join in song of praise, 
how ye must falter there! "Blessing, and honor, and 
glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the 
throne." No more, alas! You are out of place. No 
wedding garment on ! How came ye here, all speechless 
then? 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 99 

Though humble, and in the form of servant found, 
naught of his character divine was lost. Mark what the 
Father said: "Let all the angels of God worship him." 
And to the Son the Father said: "Thy throne, O God, is 
forever and ever : a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre 
of thy kingdom," Heb. i : 8. 

He, by angels worshiped at such high behest, must 
be divine. 

He, whom the Father honored with that holy name, 
must be divine. 

Again: when Paul had called Ephesian elders near 
to give them final charge, he told them there to feed the 
church of God, which he had purchased with his own 
blood. Sure, none will talk of spirit's blood. 'Twas Jesus 
shed his blood for all. 

The apostles preached Christ crucified. And he in 
Tarsus born wrote thus: "If we, or an angel from 
heaven, preach another gospel, let him be accursed." Let 
all beware of this anathema. 

"Seeing, therefore, that we are compassed about 
with such a cloud of witnesses," let us, with grateful 
hearts, acknowledge him as did the bard of yore : 

"Jesus, my God, 1117 all, 
Whilst at thy feet I lie; 
Thou wilt not let me lower fall, 
And none can higher fly." 

How precious is the name of Christ to them that 
do believe, both Alpha and Omega too, first and the last 



100 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

to them ! Redemption, reconciliation, wisdom, righteous- 
ness, sanctification, the way, the truth, the life, the door 
of hope and resurrection too. 

With right good will we would subscribe, Amen ! to 
declaration of the gathered church of British Isles, in 
famous London town, sent far and wide in sixty-nine, for 
confirmation and encouragement: " If Jesus Christ is any- 
thing to its, he must be all" 

But we proceed to notice other proof. The end is 
drawing near, and the arch-foe of God and man seeks not 
our high pretense, and grave profession of the name of 
Christ; cares not how 7 much we preach and pray, and 
alms profuse dispense, if we deny the Christ of God, turn 
from the Door, and climb the wall where entrance there 
is none. Mark that devout centurion, praying oft, and 
lib'ral did bestow his favors on the poor; but something 
needful he was lacking still. A vision was dispensed 
to him to send to Joppa for a counsellor, and Peter, 
coming to this contrite man, proclaimed the gospel truth, 
that "Jesus Christ ivas Lord of all." Believing this, and 
truths which hinge thereon, forthwith they were baptized 
with Holy Ghost, and adopted children of the house of 
faith. No one unto the Father cometh but by Christ; 
that is, through faith in him. 

Emmanuel having introduced his kingdom of right- 
eousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, manifested 
his character, and demonstrated his power, he under- 
took for us, to make atonement for the sin of man. Sub- 
mitting as a lamb to slaughter led, and as a sheep before 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 101 

its shearers maketh no complaint, so he in meekness 
opened not his mouth. Had he but spoke the word, 
Sanhedrim council, Pilate, and high priest would silent 
been in death, seeing that all power was his in heaven 
and in earth. Expressly doth the apostle state, that 
remission can not be known except by shedding blood. 
Therefore, he undertook for us, and shed his blood for all 
the race of man. No promise is there given of pardon 
and remission free, but through faith in him. And when 
this offer we reject, there is no Bible refuge left. 

Satan having signally failed in wilderness assault, 
still persevered in persecuting hate, through emissaries of 
his purpose vile, the rulers of the Jews. By guile they 
fain would him ensnare, or by insults provoke, but all 
of no avail. Despite their malice they were forced his 
miracles to own. At length betrayed, as he foretold, 
through treason gross by one who followed him ; arrested 
in Gethsemane, falsely accused before high priest and 
council; and at Pilate's judgment-seat mocked, insulted, 
and abused by soldiers fierce ; condemned and crucified, 
then on the cross reviled w T ith cruel scorn. 

As man, and as man's loving Savior, he felt the 
poignant sting of gross ingratitude. As man, and as 
man's all-powerful Substitute, he bore excruciating pain, 
as recklessly the torturing nails pierced through his hands 
and feet. As prophet had foretold, God laid on him the 
iniquity of all. Which by apostle was confirmed: " He 
bore our sins in his own body on the tree." He carried 
out the Father's voUl. And the apostle further saith: 



102 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

"By the which tvitl we are sanctified, through the offer- 
ing of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." As from 
man his precious blood flowed from his wounds, and 
trickling down the upright beam, did stain the earth 
around. 

As all mankind, without a Savior, must have felt at 
coming crisis, condemned, forlorn, abandoned in the hour 
of death, and in the blackness of interminable despair, 
He bore for one and all. O contemplate that piercing 
cry of agony, as weight of sin o'erwhelming closed 
dark around in awful gloom: "My God, my God, 
why hast thou forsaken me?" As man, and for man, 
for six long hours he suffered there, insulted and reviled 
by priests, by soldiers, and the rabble throng. As 
ancient prophet wrote: "Of men rejected and despised , 
a man of sorrows and acquaint with grief." 

As man dies, so he expired there — "The just for 
the unjust, that he might bring us to God." And as sure 
as Deity can feel and sympathize, this God incarnate, 
"The Lord from heaven," "The Word made flesh, " in 
immediate, direct, and inseparable connection, passed 
through this awful scene. 

As he was born the holy Son of God, and Savior of 
mankind, the representative of man, the Lord of glory, 
just what he was and is, he lived and died, and rose and 
lives again the same "Jesus Christ; the same yester- 
day, to-day, and forever." As he said to his servant 
John: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and 
the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 103 

and which is to come ; the Almighty. I am he that 
liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive forev- 
ermore, Amen ! and have the key of hell and of death." 
A Savior worthy of our fullest faith, a sacrifice com- 
mensurate to the sin of man. Power to lay down his 
life, and power to take it up again — but not as man, 
whose breathless corpse is subject to corruption and 
decay. Not as man, whose being here depends on inha- 
lation of surrounding air. Not thus subjected, not thus 
dependent, not abridged the least his being nor his 
power; though calm in death he lay the appointed time, 
secure in Joseph's rock-bound tomb. 

When the three days foretold expired, com missioned 
from on high an angel swift descends and breaks the 
Hebrew seal, then rolled the stone away ; forth came 
the conquering King, victorious still. Ere this the 
fiend, with haughty pride, claimed he had overcome. 
But now aghast, dismayed, defeated, his last dread 
weapon — death — of no avail ; bruised and forever van- 
quished. The woman's seed hath triumphed ! 

" Jesus reigns, he reigns victorious, 
Over heaven and earth most glorious." 

We here diverge, to speak of some who own the 
Babe of Bethlehem as Son of God, and drawing deep 
on mines of eloquence, to crown him Lord of all, expatiate 
largely on his attributes, his power, his wisdom, and his 
mighty works — his love and mercy in expiatory sacrifice ; 
and on his glorious resurrection too. But then affirm 



104 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

he only died as man, or the humanity was all that tasted 
death. "lis strange they do not, see that thus they 
draw a mark of sable hue on all that they have said, 
and more, on all that can be said, if that is so. 

Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the 
world, was crucified. 

Emmanuel, the Word made flesh, was crucified. 

"The Lord from heaven," "The Lord of glory," 
died upon the cross. 

He who "was dead and is alive forevermore" lav 
dead in Joseph's sepulchre. 

The Lamb, whose blood whole thousands did redeem, 
was slain on Calvary. 

The Son of man, raised from the narrow tomb, in 
righteousness will judge the world in coming day. 

Can we believe him superhuman and divine when 
walking on the Sea of Galilee? when, from that silent 
tomb at Bethany, the dead was raised? when touching 
bier just at the gate of Nain, and when transfigured 
on the holy mount that rev Vent worship and ascription 
high was due to him ? when, in the private house, he 
showed his hands, his feet, and side, or when ascending 
through etherial vault ? 

But in the hour of greatest need with him, and 
most import for dying world, there in darkness deep, 
prostrate in grief, he agonizing bowed in chosen Garden 
of Gethsemane. And midst that most tragic scene on 
Calvary, when on the cross suspended hung, salvation's 
first, and last, and only hope. The Nazarene alone? 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 105 

Humanity there bearing sin alone ? atoning to in full ? 
Oh, Christian brother, this would ruin all. Christ would 
not have been the same, to-day and yesterday, in 
hights and depths, in life and death, and evermore the 
same. 

We do entreat all who have hope in Christ to bear 
his words in mind : What God hath joined and conse- 
crated one, dare not in thought or word to separate. 
No warrant for division can be found on sacred page. 
The thought is low, unworthy, and undignified, that 
Deity, like man, lives and has being by this vital air. 

" All things are possible with him with whom we 
have to do." 

But to resume. Some evidence we've passed which 
must not be ignored. Heaven's King suspended on 
the cross, the sun refused to give his light, and dark- 
ness palled the outraged world while her Creator bled ; 
and adding largely to the direful scene, this earth con- 
vulsed lay quaking underneath, and rending rocks spread 
consternation round, and Hebrew veil was rent in twain 
from lowest hem to curtained beam above, of no more 
use ; the true Shechinah gone, the temple doomed, 
and Gentiles soon profane the holy place, and burn 
their city too. Another and a better way prepared, 
through faith in Christ, and by the Holy Ghost, both 
Jew and Gentile access find to holiest of all, e'en by 
his precious blood and consecrated vail, his flesh, Eph. 
ii: 18; Heb. x: 20. 

O unbelieving throng! Abraham and Moses died, 



106 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

Samuel and David passed away, prophets and apostles 
too are gone; yet no minor star was known to blink 
because a good man died. Why this terror now? all 
nature schocked, upper, nether, and surrounding proof, 
Emmanuel suffered for the sin of man. This forceful 
evidence, impelled confession e'en from soldiers' lips. 
" Truly /this was the Son of God." 

Thick clouds of evidence, from time to time, vouch- 
safed that all with doubting Didymus should own our 
rightful Lord. 

Next let us see that Hebrew house ; the doors are 
shut, apostles are within, all present there but one. 
No doubt their converse solemn is of late events, soul- 
stirring all, but most the rumored resurrection of their 
Lord beloved. When lo ! another form before them 
stands, and speaks to them with salutation kind : " Peace 
be unto you." Surprised and filled with fear, they look 
on him. A spirit sure, as they conclude, has entered 
our retreat. Again he speaks to calm their fears : "'Tis 
I, myself; be not afraid. Behold my hands and feet. 
See where the nails were driven. A spirit hath not 
flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Again shut in, 
just eight days after this, and Thomas with them sat, 
who was not there before. And Jesus, in their midst, 
saluted them again ; then called to him who doubted : 
" Thomas, reach hither thy hand, and thy fingers put 
in print of nails, and thrust thy hand into my wounded 
side, that faith may fill thy doubting mind and joy 
return." Incredulous no more, the unbelieving Thomas 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 107 

cried aloud, with joy ecstatic : " My Lord and my 
God. It is enough ; I doubt no more." 

O wandering skeptic! this confession mark, and 
ponder well the following words : 

Xo righteous man nor angel pure, such salutation 
e'er received without rebuke in haste. "See thou do 
it not, thy fellow-servant I." Not so with him, and 
why? It was no more than due. "Blessed are they 
who have not seen, and yet believe." We have not 
seen his w T ounded limbs as then and there. Do we 
believe as Thomas then believed, and full confession 
made ? If so, his blessing rests on us secure. No 
Spirit Christ was this ; no apparition vague haunted 
the concealed retreat of apostolic band. Those lacera- 
ted hands and feet, and pierced side, memorials sure 
that he w r as Jesus, who suffered, bled, and died on 
Calvary, short time before, while they with grief looked 
on. Our Lord, thus close identified, all doubts removed 
from his apostles' minds, he led them forth from noisy 
streets, and from the sacred fane, unto the brow of Olivet 
hard by; a blessing then pronounced, and soared away 
through ether's empty space to brighter worlds on high. 
Astonished stood eleven men, their eyes still fixed in 
wonder as he upward passed, until a cloud received 
him from their view. Another w T onder quick succeeds ; 
two angels bright are with them there, who, to those 
men bereaved, the joyful message brought: "Ye men 
of Galilee, why stand ye gazing here up into heaven? 
This same Jesus which is ta'en from you into heaven 



108 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

on high, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen 
him go into heaven." Not a mere likeness, not a rep- 
resentative phantom, but this same identical, the Cru- 
cified shall come again, confirming what he testified short 
time before, to Jewish council and high priest: "And 
ye shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of 
heaven/' etc. 

We'll press this point of evidence somewhat, lest 
casual reader fail to grasp its force. How very careful, 
see: 'Tis I, myself; be not afraid! Come, handle me, 
and be assured. A spirit hath not flesh and bones ; 
then showed his hands, his feet, his side, then ate the 
fish tod honeycomb, then promise gave of Comforter, 
the Holy Ghost, ere long. Thus assured, confirmed, 
and comforted, he led them forth to Bethany, and 
raised those very hands, wounded for our transgression, 
and with beneficence divine, the parting blessing spoke : 
"Peace I leave with you, my peace- I give unto you," 
then passed majestic to the throne on high. 

Two witnesses were there, in purest white arrayed, 
emblems of truth and holiness. No Jew could cavil 
now, their law was answered full. "In the mouth of 
two or three witnesses every word shall be established." 
Their testimony stands. The same Jesus shall come 
again. Will ye reject such proof? then sure 'twould 
be in vain for Lazarus to arise, for Noah, Job, and 
Daniel to come back and testify. 

Our finite vision can not see him now, in realms 
of glory bright, but inspiration gives us cheering news 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 109 

of him. "A mother may forget her sucking child, 
but Jesus ne'er forgets his little ones." Full two and 
thirty years had passed since he ascended from Mount 
Olivet, when Paul recorded thus: " There is one God 
and one Mediator between God and man, the man 
Christ Jesus." Here, then, we find the same man Oirist, 
our Advocate on high, still pleading for rebellious man : 
Spare one year more, perchance they will believe. 

The apostle of the Gentiles, filled with zeal and 
fervor of the Holy Ghost, preached Jesus crucified to 
Jews, at Antioch to Greeks and Jews; also at Rome 
and to the world. And standing forth on Hill of Mars, 
confronted by the wisdom of the Greeks, he boldly 
bore this testimony clear: "God that made the world, 
and all things therein, the Lord of heaven and earth, 
hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the 
world- in righteousness, by that man whom he hath 
ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, 
in that he hath raised him from the dead," Acts xvii. 
That man raised from the dead, ordained the Judge of 
all, and will, as written by apostle's pen, " be revealed 
from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on all 
them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of 
our Lord Jesus Christ." " When he shall come to be' 
glorified in his saints, and to be admired by all them 
that believe." 

Seeing, therefore, that we are compassed about with 
such a cloud of witnesses, let us with the apostles believe 
and teach that Jesus of Nazareth is Lord of all, Acts 



110 THE DEITY OF CHEIST. 

x : 36 ; that he is the Son of God, Acts ix : 20 ; show- 
ing from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ, Acts 
xviii : 5, 28 ; that Jesus Christ, the second Man, is 
the Lord from heaven, 1 Cor. xv : 47 ; that he is the 
Emmanuel of Isaiah, and the Word made flesh of John, 
Is. vii: 14, Johni: 1, 14; and that he hath in heaven 
a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords, Rev. 
xix : 16 ; and that he it is which stands ordained of 
God, to be the Judge of quick and dead, Acts x : 42 ; 
that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor 
the Father, John v : 23. Thus confessing him before 
men, we may confidently hope to be owned by him 
in coming day, and permitted to join that blood-washed 
throng in realms of glory, and with them sing that 
heavenly refrain, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain" 
to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
and honor, and glory, and blessing. Even so, Amen. 

" Had I ten thousand gifts beside, 
I'd cling to Jesus crucified, 

And build on him alone ; 
For no foundation is there given, 
On which to build one hope of heaven, 

But Christ the Corner-stone." 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 



Ill 

The Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead, 
and of the General Judgment. 

According to the showing of our Lord and his 
apostles, it is of vital importance that we entertain and 
maintain correct scriptural views of the glorious gospel 
doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and of the great, 
the general, and the final judgment to come. And our 
views on these and other doctrinal subjects, if correct, 
must be according to "the oracles of God." 

With a desire to advocate sound doctrine, and to vin- 
dicate the Society of Friends from calumnious charges, 
and invidious insinuations of skepticism and infidelity on 
these points, the following remarks are offered for consid- 
eration. 

We do not presume to call attention to these pro- 
8 



114 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

foundly interesting subjects, without having examined the 
delicate points, and the critical issues which some have 
imagined to be attached thereto; but, having weighed 
them, we are deeply sensible of the important responsi- 
bility involved in the effort, and in the fear of God, we 
cheerfully assume it ; bearing in mind the bold and con- 
fident warning of the apostle: "But though we, or an 
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you 
than that which we have preached, let him be accursed, " 
Gal. i: 8. 

While we intend that our remarks shall be character- 
ized by Christian charity, we hope not to shrink from a 
clear and full exposition of the sacred truths which are 
revealed in Holy Scripture, which were "written for our 
learning/' that through faith and patience we might take 
comfort and enjoy hope; and with other items of lively 
hope, that also, for which Paul was "called in question 
by the Jews." "Looking for that blessed hope (of the 
resurrection), and the glorious appearing of the great 
God, and our Savior Jesus Christ," who is "ordained of 
God to be the Judge of quick and dead," Acts, x : 42. 

If any should be tempted to believe that any of 
these inspired writings are unnecessary, let them re- 
member the further declaration of the apostle: "All 
scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable," 2 
Tim. iii: 16, 17. 

Before proceeding further, we wish to state emphat- 
ically, that if that which dies is not raised, there can not 
be a resurrection of the dead. 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 115 

We call attention to this point, because there are 
some who believe only in the doctrine of the immortality 
of the soul, and yet persuade themselves that, because the 
soul survives the body, it is a resurrection of the dead; 
whereas, all who believe in the being or existence of a 
soul, believes that it is immortal. Seeing, therefore, that 
the soul does not, can not die, it is self-evident that it 
is sheer inconsistency to speak of the resurrection of the 
dead, with reference to the soul. 

We read of being " raised from dead works, to serve 
the living God in newness of life." This refers to dead 
works and not to dead souls. 

We will refer to another avenue of deep and danger- 
ous error, which, no doubt, has led thousands into the 
fatal labyrinths of skepticism and infidelity, viz : The set- 
ting-up the precious gift of reason as the judge or test of 
revelation; whereas, God requires child-like faith in his 
word. The child believes because father says so, and the 
Christian believes because God has said so. If Abraham 
had consulted reason in regard to offering his son, he 
would probably have ignored the command ; or had he 
weighed the promises in the balance of reason, he would 
perhaps have set them at naught. Again: if we under- 
take to reconcile with reason the wonders in Egypt, at 
the Red Sea, at Sinai's awful mount, at Jordan, Jericho, 
and Mount Carmel; the staying of the sun in his course 
o'er Gibeon, and the moon's delay o'er the valley of 
Ajalon, the reversion of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz, 
the ascension of Elijah, the account of Shadrach, Meshach 



116 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

and Abednego in the furnace, Daniel in the lion's den, 
the great propitiatory sacrifice, conception, wonderful 
works and resurrection of the Son of God, and his ascen- 
sion. These with many other scripture revelations, 
including the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, 
and of the general judgment, if subjected to the anal- 
ysis of reason, would no doubt be exploded as Jewish 
fables, or Gentile myths, and the bewildered mind 
launched into the shoreless sea of doubt and uncertainty 
without hope. 

Seeing, therefore, that all Christians believe in the 
omnipotence of Deity, we would revive the interroga- 
tion of the venerable Paul, before the Gentile authorities 
at Cesarea: "Why should it be thought a thing incred- 
ible with you, that God should raise the dead?" Acts 
xxvi: 8. 

We do not write for controversy, but for the unity of 
the church, the unity of Christians. This was the pur- 
pose of our loving Savior, whose undying love encircles 
his church. "Father, that they may be one as we are." 
And why? "That the world may believe that thou hast 
sent me." And our Church Discipline enjoins that we 
"labor to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of 
peace." Surely God hath not clothed the doctrine of the 
gospel with such abstruse mysticism that his children 
can not understand his meaning; neither has our branch 
of the church shrouded her profession in such profound 
ambiguity that her members can not comprehend her 
doctrine. And yet her exponents do not speak the 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 117 

same language; and thus a stumbling-block is lying in 
the way of the inquiring. "My brethren, this ought 
not so to be." He who had power to lay down his 
own life, and to take it up again, who raised the dead 
at the tomb of Bethany, at the house of Jairus, and 
at the gate of Nain, promised his believing children 
that he "would raise them up at the last day." 

A significant prelude is given to the general resur- 
rection of the dead: "And the graves were opened; and 
many bodies of the saints which slept, arose, and came 
out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the 
holy city, and appeared unto many," Matt, xxvii: 52, 53. 
When St. Paul's life was threatened by the furious rabble 
in Jerusalem, that wise and bold exponent of the gospel 
testified that "For the hope and resurrection of the dead 
(he) was called in question," Acts xxiii: 6. Again: 
when he was arraigned before the pompous court of 
Festus, with King Agrippa and his suite in attendance, 
Paul assured him that it was for this hope he was called 
in question of the Jews ; to which hope he evidently 
alludes again when writing to Titus (chap, ii), certifying 
him that the grace of God, which bringeth salvation to 
all men, teaches us to "look for that blessed hope, and 
the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior 
Jesus Christ" 

This coincides with the words of Emmanuel: "And 
then shall ye see the Son of man coming in the clouds, 
with great power and glory." A glorious appearing, 
truly. Thus hope, and holy confidence of meeting, see- 



118 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

ing, and being owned by his crucified, risen and glorified 
Lord, bore up the apostle's spirit under all his afflictions,, 
so that he was able to say, by the power of the Holy 
Ghost, which certified him thereof: "None of these 
things move me; neither count I my life dear unto 
myself, so that I may finish my course with joy." 

It is evident that the Apostle John entertained a like 
hope, and was cheered with a like blessed assurance. 
Hear him : "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and 
it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know 
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we 
shall see him as he is." 

According to scripture, Jesus ascended into heaven 
soul and body, and the "same Jesus" will come again, 
and "we shall be like him." 

Will any presume to mystify, or spiritualize the lan- 
guage: "And many bodies of the saints which slept, 
arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection"? 
If so, we would ask for a text which might not, with 
as much propriety, be mystified. Again : Would it 
not be as fair, and as justifiable to conclude that the 
words of the angel to the women at the sepulchre: "He 
is not here, for he is risen," did not mean that Christ 
had risen from the dead, but something else? Do we 
not all see that such caviling and equivocation would 
cripple, if not destroy all faith and hope? 

The apostles taught that Christ rose from the dead, 
and when they taught the doctrine of the resurrection 
of the dead, they referred to the resurrection of Christ 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 119 

for an example, as the first fruits. Therefore,, all reason 
is, that they alluded to a similar resurrection. 

The accusation of the Jews against Paul, as stated 
by Festus, was certain questions of their own super- 
stition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul 
affirmed to be alive. Then note Paul's defense: For 
the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am called in 
question. We do not hope for that which is past, but 
for that which is in the future. 

The joyful and triumphant teaching of the apostles 
on this subject will be further shown in the sequel ; 
but we will first allude to the evidence given to them, 
inspiring them with this faith, that they and we might 
confidently look for the realization of this " blessed 
hope." 

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, three 
days after his crucifixion and death, is the abiding 
seal of his Sonship, his deity, and his power. As saith 
the apostle : He was declared to be the Son of God 
with pow r er, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the 
resurrection from the dead, Rom. i : 4. He triumphed 
over death, hell, and the grave. His flesh saw no cor- 
ruption, as foretold by the psalmist, and confirmed by 
both Peter and Paul, Ps. xvi : 10; Acts xi: 27, xiii: 
37. In rising from the dead, he became the first fruits 
of them that slept, 1 Cor. xv : 20-23. Christ the 
first fruits, and afterward they that are Christ's at his 
coming. He broke the bonds of death, and burst the 
cerements of the grave. Hence the triumphant excla- 



120 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

mation : . " O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, 
where is thy victory ? " What signification can we 
attach to the words " first fruits," if there is no second, 
no more fruit of like kind ? 

The first fruit with Israel, from which the simile 
is drawn, was the earnest of the incoming harvest. 
Even so in Christ Jesus we have the assurance, both 
by example and declaration, that God hath ordained 
through him the resurrection of the dead. Hear the 
words of him of whom the language was spoken : 
" Surely, they will reverence my Son." The words of 
him who taught as no other man had, whose words 
shall not pass away until fulfilled. 

" Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in 
the which all that are in the graves shall hear his 
voice (the voice of the Son of God), and shall come 
forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection 
of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resur- 
rection of damnation," John v : 28, 29. 

Will ye not reverence the Son? will ye not accept 
his words as more immutable than the pillars of the 
earth? Did not the apostles accept and believe his 
declarations without equivocating mysticism ? Jesus 
tells us plainly and positively, these things shall be; 
and surely it would be wisdom in us to believe his 
words, and seek a preparation, like the wise virgins, 
to meet these events with joy. Some have strangely 
strained these plain words, endeavoring, by a mystical 
interpretation, to apply them only to those who are 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 121 

dead in sin. We would that such might examine and 
see the folly of such subterfuge. 

" All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 
and shall come forth." 

Are we to understand that the hour is coming 
when all will be buried in the graves of sin ; and that 
those who have been doing good in sin, shall come 
forth to the resurrection of life ; and that those who 
have been doing evil in sin, shall come forth out of 
sin unto the resurrection of damnation ? Surely, with 
a little sober thought, the folly of such a construc- 
tion will appear evident. The preceding declaration of 
our Lord confirms the prophecy of Daniel, "And many 
of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, 
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and ever- 
lasting contempt," Dan. xii: 2, 3. Mark these two 
classes : all are sleeping in the dust of the earth, and 
all awake from the sleep, etc. These are plain words 
of inspiration, w T ords of prophetic vision ; let us not 
reject, nor cavil at them, but thank God that he has 
been pleased to show us what shall be hereafter. 

The Patriarch Job gives us another striking assur- 
ance of the resurrection of the dead, thus: "For I 
know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand 
at the latter day upon the earth." Knowing, as we 
do, the literal fulfillment of this prophecy, how can 
we doubt the following, viz: "And though, after my 
skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall 
I see God : whom I shall see for myself, and mine 



122 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins 
be consumed within me"? Holy confidence this. Job's 
skin was probably near gone, by the scraping of the 
potshreds, and the boils from the crown of his head 
to the soles of his feet ; and though his body also* 
should be destroyed, yet in his flesh he should see God. 
It would seem that he enjoyed a like hope with the 
apostle. 

Now, if we indulge in so transforming scripture, 
that words are made to mean their opposites, concluding 
that when our Savior said graves, he meant sin ; when 
the Prophet Daniel said "dust of the earth," he meant 
unrighteousness ; and. when Job said flesh, he meant 
spirit, do we not see that others, using a like liberty, 
might say that the Garden of Eden was an allegory ; 
the wonders of Egypt a set of similes ; Noah's ark a 
metaphor ; and so on, until the Bible was frittered down 
to a jargon of mysticism, and the precious truths of 
the gospel clothed in impenetrable ambiguity, faith and 
hope stifled ? and atheists and deists might tell us : 
Your Bible is an unintelligible compound of nonsense, 
saying one thing, and meaning something altogether 
different, and perhaps the very opposite according to 
your own showing. 

When the unbelieving Sadducees questioned our 
Lord in regard to this doctrine, evidently designing to 
show it to be absurd, did he justify them ? Nay, verily, 
but rebuked them: "Ye do err, not knowing the scrip- 
tures, nor the power of God" — showing the fallacy of 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 123 

their groveling idea of carnality in the life to come, and 
advancing argument in proof of the doctrine assailed ; 
again rebuking these cavilers : " Ye do therefore greatly 
err." If unbelief in this doctrine was a great error 
at that time, the former dispensation still prevailing, 
how much more inexcusable now under the full blaze 
of gospel light ! 

Martha, the sister of Lazarus, believed in the resur- 
rection at the last day. The Savior said unto her, "I 
am'the resurrection and the life," teaching her that he 
was the great procuring cause of all our benefits. Yea, 
he is "the way, the truth, and the life." And "of 
God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sancti- 
fication and redemption." All that we are, all that we 
have, and all that we hope for, is of and from him. 
He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending: 
and through him the great boon of the resurrection 
is conferred on us. 

When Peter and John spake unto the people in the 
temple, at Jerusalem, the priests and others came upon 
them, being grieved that "they taught and preached 
through Jesus the resurrection from the dead," Acts 
iv: 1, 2. And St. Paul at Athens, "being filled with 
the Holy Ghost, preached unto the people Jesus and 
the resurrection," Acts xvii : 18. "And when they 
heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, 
and others said, we will hear thee again of this matter." 
And again, when defending himself before the Roman 
Court at Cesarea, he avowed his hope toward God : 



124 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

"That there should be a resurrection of the dead, both 
of the just and of the unjust," Acts xxiv : 15. 

Peter and John taught through Jesus the resur- 
rection from the dead. We dare not teach another 
gospel, nor gainsay their teaching ; but confidently join 
with those who accepted, and desired to hear more of 
this matter, and gladly avow our hope with Paul, that 
it will be so. 

And we pity those who are grieved, as were the 
priests and Sadducees, when this doctrine is preached. 
And we do entreat all not to mock and ridicule a 
doctrine which was taught of the Lord, and confirmed 
unto us by them that heard him. 

Hear the apostle again on this subject: "For if 
we believe that Jesus died and rose again (and surely 
none will falter here), even so, them also which sleep in 
Jesus will God bring with him." Even so. Even how? 
As Jesus was dead and is alive, even so, them that 
sleep, or fall asleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. 
Can any suppose that the apostle alluded to living 
Christians being asleep in Jesus ? We would rather 
suppose that they are alive and wide awake in him. 
But the apostle proceeds with such holy confidence, 
and high authority, that no Christian should doubt: 
"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, 
that we (or they) which are alive, and remain unto 
the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which 
are asleep (or dead). For the Lord himself shall de- 
scend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 125 

archangel, and with the trump of God : and the dead 
in Christ shall rise first : then we (or they) which 
are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with 
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and 
so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort 
one another with these words," 1 Thes. iv : 14-18. 

Let us note that all this is written by the apostle, 
as something which shall be hereafter. And here we 
have a clear, positive declaration, " by the word of 
the Lord," that the dead shall rise. Men live in Christ, 
during this natural life, but they do not die in him 
while they live here. Neither does the soul ever die 
in him. Yet the dead in Christ, or they that fall 
asleep in Jesus, shall rise. And we should " comfort" 
and encourage one another "with these words." And 
the corroborating testimony in 1 Cor. xv : 51-55, should 
silence all doubts and caviling among Christians: "Be- 
hold, I show you a mystery (that is, I tell you some- 
thing plainly, which has been wrapt in mystical uncer- 
tainty to former ages) : we shall not all sleep (or 
die), but we shall all be changed, at the last trump : 
for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be 
raised incorruptible, and we (those that are alive) shall 
be changed. For this corruptible must put on incor- 
ruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 

Nothing here hard to be understood, if we believe 
the apostle meant what he said. While men yet live 
on the earth, the Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven, and the living shall be changed, and the dead 



126 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

shall be raised incorruptible. A complete, triumphant 
victory obtained over death, hell, and the grave, through 
Jesus Christ, who tasted death for every man. 

It is our highest and holiest interest, to receive 
with meekness and fear the revealed truths of the 
gospel ; and in order thereto, it is indispensably neces- 
sary that we divest ourselves of preconceived opinions 
prejudicial to the plain significance of the inspired 
writers, whether those opinions have been imbibed by 
tradition, education, or in some way unknown to our- 
selves. 

Seeing that we are as impotent in changing the 
decrees of the Almighty, as is the leopard to change his 
spots, or the Ethiopean his skin, therefore, we should, as 
children, receive his edicts and appointments as ordained 
for our greatest good. 

It appears evident that there was skepticism in the 
church at Corinth on this subject, for the Apostle Paul 
devotes the fifteenth chapter of his first epistle to that 
church, to correct this error among them. 

Let us conceive the apostle, with his mind fixed on 
this subject, earnest to stop the spread of false doctrine 
in regard thereto. 

In the first place, he lays an immutable foundation, 
and then testifies that the hope of the world depends on 
its validity. 

It is not our pen that attaches such immeasurable 
importance to this doctrine, but the Spirit of inspiration 
through the apostle; yet some are ready to say it is a 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 127 

matter of indifference, and should be let alone, and 
let people believe as suits their fancy on this subject. 
Surely the venerable Paul did not think so, when he 
wrote this epistle to the Corinthians. Hear him: "More- 
over, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I 
preached unto you, for I delivered unto you first of all, 
that Cliridt died for our sins according to the scriptures; 
and that he was buried, and that he rose again according 
to the scriptures." No one doubts but that he was writing 
of Christ's body, and lie asserts the facts on the authority 
of the scriptures. He next sums up the evidence, and 
verily he makes a strong case of it. Then he proceeds : 
"If Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, 
how say some of you that there is no resurrection of the 
dead ? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then 
is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is 
our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain (equiva- 
lent to saying if the dead rise not, this, my declaration, 
with all the evidence to which I have referred, is a fable). 
Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we 
have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he 
raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not." Then he 
reaffirms: "If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised, 
and ye are yet in your sins." But not willing that 
it should be left as a question of doubt or controversy, 
he proceeds with direct reference to the resurrection 
of Christ as a prelude, or assurance of that which awaits 
the children of men: "But now is Christ risen from 
the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept." 



128 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

The first fruits rising from the dead to die no 
more. "For since by man came death, by man also 
came the resurrection of the dead." For as in Adam 
all die, even so "in Christ shall all be made alive." A 
death and a life including all of Adam's dying race. 

Then the apostle, with holy confidence, this hope 
being set before him, asserts that he died daily; that is, 
he was resigned, and given up to meet all dangers, and 
death itself. And alluding to the dangers he had passed 
through at Ephesus, he proceeds : "What advantageth it 
me if the dead rise not?" And further: "But some will 
say, how are the dead raised, and with what body do 
they come?" 

He chides their unnecessary caviling, but proceeds 
to show them by the similitude of the seed sown in the 
ground, and bringing forth its likeness, proving by this 
comparison that God will, in like manner, bring forth a 
resurrection body, for he adds: "So, also, is the resur- 
rection of the dead." Let us remember, that the body 
brought forth by the seed sown, is as real a body as 
that put into the ground; and the apostle says: "So, 
also, is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in 
corruption" (what is sown in corruption? the body, 
certainly); "it is raised in in corruption: it is sown a 
natural body; it is raised a spiritual body." The word 
body means reality, as opposed to mere representation. 
He then states that "we have borne the image of 
the earthy," or first Adam, and testifies that we shall 
bear the image of the heavenly, or incorruptible, Christ- 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 129 

like body. Our blessed Lord was careful so to identify 
himself after his resurrection, as forever to preclude all 
reasonable ground of doubt, or spiritual mysticism, rel- 
ative to the resurrection of his body, calling on his 
terrified disciples to "come and handle him and see, for 
a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." 
And on another occasion, he told Thomas to put his 
finger in the prints of the nails, and thrust his hand 
into his side, that he might be sure that he had risen 
from the dead, with the same body that suffered on 
Calvary when those wounds were inflicted. And thus 
identified, he ascended into heaven. 

The apostle further assures us that the Lord Jesus 
will change our vile body, that it may be fashioned 
like unto his glorious body. 

And further : in the all-wise counsel of the Father, 
he hath appointed a day of general judgment, over 
which the blessed Jesus will preside. " For the Father 
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment 
unto the Son: that all men should honor the Son even 
as they honor the Father," John v: 22, 23. 

And the apostle records that "God hath appointed 
a day, in the which he will judge the world in right- 
eousness, by that man w T hom he hath ordained, whereof 
he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath 
raised him from the dead," Acts xiii: 31. 

Some seem to think, that this appointed day 
reaches from the death of Adam unto the end of 
time, quoting: "With the Lord, a thousand years are 
9 



130 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

as one day." If this was granted as applicable, the 
judgment would have ended some five thousand years 
ago— this world being considered near six thousand 
years old; consequently, that day would have expired 
some five thousand years back; and the last five thou- 
sand and the unexpired future, are left out of the 
calculation. The weakness of such construction must be 
apparent. No doubt, the design of the question: "With 
the Lord, a thousand years are as one day," etc., is to 
show that, in the infinitude of Deity, who is from ever- 
lasting to everlasting, there is no measurement of time. 
But when God speaks to men of days or years, he 
speaks intelligibly. When he told King Hezekiah that 
lie would add fifteen years to his life, he did not 
mean fifteen thousand years. Moreover, this judgment 
will be by that man whom he hath ordained, and he 
hath not been a man quite two thousand years yet. 
Therefore, all must see that such a plea is utterly 
untenable. No need of being merged into such weak 
and incongruous positions, if we accept the plain sense 
@f scripture. 

It is interesting and solemnizing to contemplate, 
that on the morn of that eventful and momentous day, 
every eye shall see the Son of man coming in the 
clouds of heaven, arrayed in majesty, clothed with 
power, encircled with a halo of ineffable glory, and 
accompanied by myriads of holy angels; then seated 
upon the throne of his glory, with all nations gathered 
before him. 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 131 

'Tis sheer perversion to say that this alludes to a 
single, individual and continuous appearance. "And 
he will separate thern as a shepherd divideth his sheep 
from the goats," etc. "Then shall he send forth his 
angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all 
things that offend, and them which do iniquity," etc. 
Alas, for the impenitent and unbelieving then! "For 
the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming 
fire, taking vengeance on all them that know not God, 
and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
But thanks be to God, " The righteous shall shine forth 
as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." — Matt, 
xiii : 43, xxiv : 30, xxv : 31, xxvi : 64; Mark xiii : 26, 
xiv : 62 ; 2 Thes. i : 7, 8 ; Kev. i: 7. 

Some seem to suppose that judgment follows imme- 
diately after death with each person, and that "the end 
of the world " means that death is the end of the world 
to each individual. We reply, that there is but one 
judgment mentioned in the Holy Bible, and that is in 
the day which God hath appointed ; hence, anything 
different can not rank higher than human speculation, 
and we should not teach for doctrine ideas which are 
not taught on the sacred page. 

The end of this life is the end of our temporal 
existence ; but the scriptures speak expressly of the end 
of this ivorld. 

Friends and other Christians generally believe that 
the souls of the righteous are happy immediately after 
death, and those of the wicked are miserable ; but this 



132 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

does not militate against the doctrine of the resurrection 
of the dead, nor that of the general judgment. 

If any ask, What need of anything more ? we deem 
it sufficient to reply, " Secret things belong unto God." 
He has told us that these things should be, but has not 
seen meet to tell us the why and the wherefore. Our 
great High Priest, when expounding the parable of the 
tares, said: "The harvest is the end of the world." 
And St. John tells us he saw an angel standing on the 
sea, and upon the dry land, and heard him make a solemn 
declaration, that " There shall be time no longer." Now, 
if this world does not come to an end, the harvest at that 
time must be a failure. And if time continues without 
end, that angel must have been sadly mistaken. 

The Apostle Peter writes, with all the apparent 
assurance of certain knowledge : " But the heavens 
and the earth, which are now, by the same word are 
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of 
judgment and perdition of ungodly men. The earth, 
and the works that are therein, shall be burned up," 
2 Pet. iii : 7, 10. 

Thus we find one part of the inspired volume 
corresponding with and confirming another, in connect- 
ing the general judgment with the end of the world, 
and there is no other safe foundation ; but this is sure, 
for " the scriptures can not be broken." And let all 
mark the declaration of our Lord to the cities of Cho- 
razin and Bethsaida, certifying that it should be more 
tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, at the day of judgment, 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 133 

than for those cities, as also for Sodom than Caper- 
naum, Matt, xi: 21-24. And further stating of the 
unbelieving Jews: "The men of Nineveh shall rise in 
judgment with this generation/' and that "the queen 
of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this 
generation, " etc., Matt, xii : 41, 42. 

What could be more clear than this showing, that 
our Lord alluded to a judgment in the future ; when 
the inhabitants of those ancient cities, and the Queen 
of Sheba, should be judged with the then present gen- 
eration ? 

Seeing, therefore, that in this land of Bibles God 
has given us» such full and clear testimony relative to 
these doctrines, w 7 e must meet the responsibility of unbe- 
lief individually. 

It will be vain to plead that we have been taught 
differently, seeing that we have such easy access to 
the divine teaching. 

Notwithstanding the Holy Scripture is full and 
forcible in teaching and confirming these doctrines, yet 
it must be interesting to all to examine the records 
and understand the views of those who were promi- 
nently instrumental, under divine authority, in founding 
and building up the religious society of which they 
are members; for by this means we learn whether we, 
as their successors, do fairly represent them in holding 
and teaching the same doctrine. 

For this purpose, and for the clearing of our pre- 
decessors in the faith from imputations of skepticism 



134 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

on these points of doctrine, we have made some re- 
search, and will give a few quotations, principally from 
"Evans' Exposition of the Doctrines of the Religious 
Society of Friends," compiled, with much care and 
labor, by that valued minister of the gospel, Thomas 
Evans, of Philadelphia; than which, we presume, there 
is no work that is more generally approved by Friends 
relative to the doctrine believed and taught by the 
Society from its earliest date. 

On page 52 of that work, writing of the Lord 
Jesus, it is stated that " he rose from the dead on 
the third day, in conformity with his promise, Destroy 
this temple, and in three days I will raise it up, — 
tarried with his disciples many days after his resur- 
rection, and finally ascended up into heaven in their 
sight, where he now sitteth at the right hand of 
God the Father, — our Mediator, Intercessor, and Advo- 
cate with the Father ; from whence he shall come 
with power and great glory, and all the holy angels 
with him, to judge both quick and dead, in that great 
day when all nations shall be gathered before him, ,, etc. 

The Lord Jesus shall come with power and glory 
and all the holy angels with him, and before him 
shall be gathered all nations! There is no proviso, no 
qualifying words. We can not mistake so plain a 
declaration. 

On page 66, quoting from Robert Barclay, who 
was writing of Christ, we find as follows: 

" Wherefore, as we believe he was a true and 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 135 

real man, so we also believe that he continues so to 
be glorified in the heavens, in soul and body ; by 
whom God shall judge the world in the great and gen- 
eral day of judgment." — Barclay's Apology, p. 139. 

On pages 80 and 81, of said " Exposition," the 
author quotes from William Penn, who speaks expressly 
of " the great and final day of judgment, when God 
will finally judge the world, both the quick and the 
dead, by that man whom he hath ordained." 

And on page 82 he further states, that "by him 
(Christ Jesus), God the Father will one day judge the 
whole world, both of quick (or living) and dead." 

Observe, both Barclay and Penn speak of the great 
and final day of judgment. One day, when God, by 
Christ, will judge, not a few only, but the whole world 
of mankind — both those that are then living and those 
that are dead. 

Further, on page 113, he quotes from Edward 
Burrough, under date of 1659 : 

"And we (the Society of Friends) believe even, 
that he that was dead is alive and lives forevermora 
and that he cometh, and shall come again, to judge 
the world with righteousness, and all people with equity, 
and shall give every man according to his deeds, at 
the day of judgment, when all shall arise to condem- 
nation, or to justification ; he that hath done good 
shall receive life, and he that hath done evil, everlast- 
ing condemnation." 

Edward Burrough was justly considered a cham- 



136 THE KESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

pion in his day. Let all mark his words, and be careful 
not to misrepresent these ancient worthies. At the 
day of judgment, all shall arise. He does not say, At 
the day of judgment, all who are dead have risen, but 
" all shall arise" which can not be applied to past time. 

We will proceed with the testimony of early Friends, 
that they may stand justified before all in our Society, 
and the world, as orthodox on these cardinal Christian 
doctrines. 

On pages 126 and 127, of "Evans' Exposition," 
w r e find it stated, that John Crook, who was a valiant 
soldier of Jesus Christ, writing in 1663, records that, 
"By this gift of God in our hearts, we further believe 
that Christ Jesus rose again from the dead, according 
unto the scriptures, and sits at God's right hand in 
a glorious body; and we believe that our low estates, 
and humble bodies, shall be made like unto his glo- 
rious body, through the working of his mighty power ; 
whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself; 
and that this mortal shall put on immortality. And 
we also believe the resurrection of the just and unjust, 
the one to salvation, and the other to condemnation, 
according to the judgment of the great day; and then 
shall every seed have its own body, according to 1 
Cor. xv : 36, 37, 38, which we verily believe ; for if 
the dead rise not, we are of all men most miserable. 
But because we dare not be so foolishly inquisitive as 
to say, with what* bodies shall they arise, therefore do 
some say, we deny both the resurrection of the body 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 137 

of Christ, and of all that shall or will be dead ; but 
this is also false, for every man shall be raised in his 
own order, but Christ the first fruits, 1 Cor. xv : 23. 
And we believe they shall be raised with the same 
bodies, so far as a natural and spiritual, corruptible 
and incorruptible, terrestrial and celestial can be the 
same." 

This is unmistakably stating what u we" (the Soci- 
ety of Friends) believe. It may be difficult for some 
to subscribe to those declarations, who, through some 
strange device of the enemy, have been led to reject 
this doctrine ; but we trust that the revival of the 
testimonies of those ancient standard-bearers, will be 
a powerful means to induce them to embrace the truth. 

We next quote from page 154. Elizabeth Bathurst 
writes, in 1679 : 

" But now is Christ risen from the dead, and be- 
come the first fruits of them that sleep. For since by 
man came death, by man came also the resurrection 
from the dead. So in Acts xvii: 31, the apostle men- 
tions this as the assurance which God gave to men of 
his judging the world in the great day, by his Son 
Jesus Christ, viz : his having raised him from the 
dead." 

Again, from John Field, page 166. Writing in 
1700, he says : 

" And the same Christ they (the Society of Friends) 
firmly believe shall himself descend from heaven with 
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with 



138 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise 
first. And they own and believe there shall be a 
resurrection, both of the just and unjust." 

Note, " shall be" must allude to a time in the 
future. 

But we proceed. On page 187, Robert Haskins, in 
1701, states that "the same Jesus was crucified, died 
and was buried, and rose again and ascended into 
heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Majesty 
on high, and is our Advocate, Intercessor, and Medi- 
ator, viz : the man Christ Jesus ; who will come in the 
great and last day of judgment, to judge the world 
in righteousness," etc. 

On page 189, John Tompkins, in 1694, and page 
206, Samuel Fuller, in 1728, bear like testimony, by 
recording corroborating declarations. 

In what is termed " The Third Declaration of 
Faith," given forth by Friends in the year 1693, signed 
by George Whitehead, Ambrose Rigge, William Fal- 
lowfield, James Parke, Charles Marshall, John Bowater, 
John Vaughton and William Bingley, on pages 219, 
220 and 221, of " Evans' Exposition," we find as 
follows : 

"That there shall be hereafter a great harvest, which 
is the end of the world, a great day of judgment — 
when the Son of man cometh in his glory, and before 
him shall be gathered all nations, etc. That this blessed 
heavenly man, this Son of man, should, at last, even 
in the last and great day, signally and manifestly 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 139 

appear in glory and triumph, attended with all his 
glorious heavenly host and retinue, before all nations, 
before all his enemies, and those that have denied him, 
this will be to their great terror and amazement ; that 
this most glorious, heavenly man, and his brethren, 
that have been so much contemned and set at naught, 
should be thus exalted over their enemies and perse- 
cutors in glory and triumph, is a righteous thing with 
God ; and they that suffer with him should appear 
with him in glory and dignity when he thus appears 
at last. 

"For the doctrine of the resurrection, we sincerely 
believe, not only a resurrection in Christ from the 
fallen, sinful state here, but a rising and ascending 
with him into glory hereafter, that, when he at last 
appears, we may appear with him in glory. 

" And that the soul or spirit of every man and 
woman shall be reserved in its own distinct and proper 
being, and every seed, yea, every soul, shall have its 
proper body, as God is pleased to give it. We shall be 
raised out of all corruption and corruptibility — out 
of all mortality, and the children of God, and of the 
resurrection, shall be equal to the angels of God in 
heaven. And as the celestial bodies do far excel the ter- 
restrial, so we expect our spiritual bodies in the resur- 
rection shall far excel what our bodies now are. At 
the last trump of God, and the voice of the archangel, 
the dead shall be raised incorruptible," etc. 

The faith and hope which sustained those veterans 



140 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

in that day of 4;rial and hot persecution, should be 
weightily considered by us. They, as the apostle exhorts, 
looked for the realization of " that blessed hope, and 
the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior 
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might 
redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself 
r peculiar people, zealous of good works." Thus they 
were confident. There shall be hereafter a great day 
of judgment, at the end of the world, when the Son 
of man shall come, accompanied by the heavenly host, 
when all nations shall be gathered before him, raised 
out of all corruption and corruptibility, and each soul 
shall have its proper body. 

On page 266, William Gipson states, in the year 
1677: 

" We do own and believe what the scriptures do 
say concerning God, Christ, the Holy Ghost, Christ's 
birth, his preaching, miracles, sufferings, death, resur- 
rection and ascension; the communion or fellowship of 
the saints in light, the forgiveness of the sins of all 
the penitent, and the resurrection of the body." 

And Kobert Barclay, the famous apologist, whose 
writings, especially the " Apology," are acknowledged 
to be evangelical standard works, in conclusion to his 
" Apology," page 573, states that " Friends were 
-charged with denying the resurrection of the body, and 
of any general judgment, which slanders the Lord 
knoweth are foully cast upon us." 

We conclude, therefore, that we may assert, with 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 141 

all confidence, that the Society of Friends, both ancient 
and modern, have ever held and firmly believed these 
doctrines in all their scriptural fullness, according to 
the plain, literal sense, that is, without abstruse alle- 
gory or spiritual mysticism. 

And when any members, or non-members, charge 
or insinuate that the Society is skeptical on these points, 
be it remembered that Robert Barclay hath said : "The 
Lord knoweth that such charges are foul slanders cast 
upon the Church." 

One more testimony, and we conclude. On page 
295, "Evans' Exposition," in what is entitled, "The 
Primitive Testimony of the People called Quakers," etc., 
published at the Men's Meeting in the city of Bristol, 
England, the 3d of Eleventh mo., 1731, we read : 

"And from heaven he (Christ Jesus) shall come 
to judge the living and the dead, in the great and 
general day of judgment, when all that are in the 
graves shall hear his voice, and come forth, they that 
have done good to the resurrection of life eternal, and 
they that have done evil to the resurrection of dam- 
nation. And all these doctrines we profess according 
to the plain and literal sense of the Holy Scriptures ; 
which, therefore, we earnestly exhort you steadfastly 
to believe and zealously to maintain to the end of your 
lives, notwithstanding all the opposition and cunning 
craftiness of deists and infidels, who lie in wait to 
deceive you." 

We might continue quotations, but surely those 



142 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

given should suffice to satisfy every unprejudiced, in- 
quiring mind, that the Society of Friends, relative to 
these doctrines, is based fairly and steadfastly on the 
foundation of the Holy Scriptures, Jesus Christ him- 
self being the chief corner-stone, and that it does not 
presume to invest them with spiritual mysticism. 

" Seeing, therefore, that we are compassed about 
w 7 ith so great a cloud of witnesses," both from the 
scriptures and from the church, let us heed this ear- 
nest exhortation of our brethren of 1731, and not with- 
stand, cavil at, or gainsay any of the doctrines of 
our blessed Lord and his apostles ; but " steadfastly 
believe, and zealously maintain them until the very 
end of our lives." 

It is passing strange, and quite beyond our capacity 
io reconcile, how men of large experience and admitted 
good judgment, could pretend to say that the Society 
of Friends did not believe in the doctrine of the res- 
urrection of the dead, and of the general judgment; 
much less to affirm that the Society has never given 
forth an expression of belief on this subject. We think 
surely no considerate person, whether assenting or dis- 
senting to the views presented and advocated in the 
foregoing pages, after examining the evidence referred 
to, given forth from time to time on behalf of the 
Society, by representative men, both in an individual 
and in a collective capacity, will repeat an error so 
palpable. 



MUSINGS 



OF THINGS WHICH SHALL BE. 



Musings 



OF THINGS WHICH SHALL BE. 



WRITTEN WHILE CONFINED BY INDISPOSITION AT SHEF- 
FIELD, ENGLAND. 

"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave 
unto him, to show unto his servants things which must 
come to pass," Rev. i : 1. 

Where the restless waters of the Grecian Archi- 
pelago incessantly lave the rock-bound coast of Patmos, 
and the monotonous roar of the cavern-curbed billows, 
add solemnity to the surrounding desolation of land 
and sea; there, upon the solitary beach, pensive and 
lone, sat the sorrowing exile ; the junior son of Zeb- 
edee, banished from the company and comforts of the 

" Blessed land of Judea, thrice hallowed in song, 
Where the holiest of memories pilgrim-like throng," 

10 



146 MUSINGS. 

because he persisted in preaching Christ the Lord, and 
resurrection of the slumbering dead, which grieved 
the priests and vexed the Sadducees, Acts iv : 2. But 
faith in Christ he still held fast; and wrapped in devo- 
tion's solemn reveries, he held communion close with 
Holy Ghost, and with the saints in light, Rev. iii : 
20, v : 5. And in apocalyptic visions he was shown 
symbolic figures of events to come ; and heard the 
counsels of the great I Am, confirming proof to culti- 
vated hope and faith. 

Enveloped thus in halo pure, and canopy divine, 
his soul was filled with " wonder, love, and praise/' 
Here, then, he saw and heard a messenger of the deter- 
minate counsels of Jehovah's will ; standing one foot 
on sea and one on solid ground, Rev. x : 2, 6 (repre- 
senting the stable and the unstable), his commission 
sealed, and voice commensurate with the length and 
breadth of Time's remotest verge, his words go forth 
with authority, confirmed by Him who sitteth on the 
great white throne, and ever liveth, both the first and 
last. " There shall be time no longer" His voice re- 
echoes through the realms of day and night : " There 
shall be time no longer!" 

Then sure 

" The day is coining fast, 
Earth thy mightiest and thy last ; 
It shall come with fear and wonder, 
It will come with trump and thunder." 



MUSES \9. 147 

On that eventful morn, the sun, the moon, and 
ev'ry constellation bright, indexes on Time's old dial- 
plate, were all in their proper spheres unconscious ; 
now, annihilation wipes them out forever. 

The wheels of time, which, since creation's dawn 
had rolled incessant, now creak, and groan, and stop, 
to move no more. 

Again chaotic darkness reigns throughout the realms 
profound, as erst, before the words were spoken: "Let 
there be light ! " and silence reigned for half an hour ; 
above, beneath, and everywhere around, no voice was 
heard. 

Another messenger, of high behest, stands on the 
pearl-white battlements of heaven. The mandate is 
pronounced : 

" Gabriel, go proclaim the sound, 
And wake the nations under ground ! " 

Then loud and long the trumpet peals, reverberant 
through the dark abyss, where light erewhile had spread 
her radiant wings. 

This the last trump, foretold by apostolic pen, 
with inspiration clear: "For the trumpet shall sound 
(and then follows), the dead shall be raised incorrupt- 
ible/' 1 Cor. xv : 52. And he, by whom all things 
consist, who never spoke unless event confirming fol- 
lowed, like words had uttered, and sealed to us on 
evangelic page: "The hour is coming, in the which 
all that are in the graves shall hear (my) voice, and 



148 MUSINGS. 

shall come forth ; 4;hey that have done good, unto the 
resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto 
the resurrection of damnation, " John v : 28, 29. And 
though heaven, with voice of seven thunders, pass away r 
and earth with fervent heat dissolve, and both together, 
as an ancient scroll, be rolled, Emmanuel's words stand 
fast among immutables : " Shall be fulfilled!" The Book 
of Time is closed, probation ended. 

The angel of mercy, long hov'ring o'er our race 
with balm, and wine, and oil of consolation, now spreads 
her light wings, and soars to worlds on high, her 
native home. 

" He that is unjust, let him be unjust still : and 
he which is filthy, let him be filthy still : and he that 
is righteous, let him be righteous still : and he that 
is holy, let him be holy still, " Rev. xxii : 11. 

The Son of God, the Son of man, the Crucified, 
he that liveth and was dead, but is alive forevermore, 
puts off his mediatorial vestments ; redemption finished 
on the cross, intercession now is ended. Long time 
the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah 
now, clothed with light, and crowned with majesty 
and power, stands forth confessed "the Judge of quick 
and dead." The dead arise. Death and hell, the earth 
and sea, all give up their dead. The scripture is ful- 
filled : "O grave, where is thy victory?" 

Resuscitate, reanimate, God-given bodies all, and 
to each and every seed or soul, its own distinctive 
vestment. Not metaphysical idealities, but bodies spir- 



MUSINGS. 14& 

itual, with faculties complete; some prepared to see the 
King in his glory, to hear his gracious words, and 
adulation sing in purer climes ; others, alas ! to suffer 
all the w T oes of banishment, without reprieve or com- 
mutation. 

Thus, conscious, countless millions wait, expectant 
all ; till, lo ! Jesus comes as he ascended from the 
ancient mount, Acts i : 11. 

The nether gloom enlightened now, his own intrin- 
sic radiance illumes each shade. All eyes upraised 
behold him coming; mystic clouds, with glory bright, 
are floating round. 

Myriads of angels, jubilant with praise, outline the 
scene entire, Rev. i : 7. The Lord Jesus comes to be 
glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them 
that believe in that day, 2 Thes. i : 10. 

But those who disbelieved, and in their lifetime set 
him and his commands at naught, can not take comfort 
now. Ah no ! O, seek their rescue in this day of 
grace ! 

This lower throng, to right and left, are separate 
all ; angels, by command, divide the sheep and goats, 
Matt, xxv : 32, 33 ; tares in bundles bind, Matt, xiii : 
30 ; sever the wicked from among the just, Matt, xiii : 
49. Hope, joy, peace and love, not simply virtues 
now as erst in Time's progressive years ; but glorious 
realities, as chaplet wreaths of rich perfume, enjoyed 
by all on the right hand. Hear that gentle whisper, 
as breeze in verdant grove; humble reverence restrains 



150 MUSINGS. 

the loud acclaim: -Lo, our Savior, our Deliverer comes! 
what joy ecstatic ! 

Meanwhile, from the ethereal vault, the voice of four 
and twenty elders are heard proclaim: "We give thee 
thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, 
tind art to come ; because thou hast taken to thee thy 
great power, and hast reigned," Rev. xi : 17. 

But alas ! the filthy, the defiled, who persistent in 
rebellion stood, all quaking in their terror, cry: 'Tis 
Jesus, he whom we reviled and set at naught. Oh ! 
rocks and mountains, ye everlasting hills, fall on us 
now ; cover, oh ! hide us from his coming ! 

But all transfixed, not one can flee or hide. In- 
stinctive fear coerce them all to reverence, ev'ry knee 
bends low. The lips of all are moving, and words 
are heard: "Jesus Christ is Lord of all/' Phil, ii : 
10, 11. The scripture is fulfilled. Amen. In mercy 
they had scorned to bow, and ne'er before had like 
confession made. When mercy fails, stern judgment 
will subdue. 

No priest, nor scribe, nor bigot Pharisee, now wag 
the head in scornful triumph ; no cruel soldiers now 
deride, mocking with purple robe and crown of thorns. 
No Hebrew rabble raise the hue and cry: "Let him 
be crucified ! " No governor nor king claim power to 
take his life ; not now, lamb-like unto the slaughter 
led ; not now, like sheep before the shearers dumb. 
All opposition now is mute. Behold him on that great 
white throne, with undisputed power : the name in 



MUSINGS. 151 

golden letters bright, on vesture and on thigh: "Lord 
of lords, and King of kings." 

The dead, both small and great, now before him 
stand. 

The Judge Supreme turns to the right, with radiant 
smile surpassing all beneficence, and look of owning 
love, divinely sweet. His accents flow in terms of 
kindest welcome : 

My own redeemed, my jewels, my blood-bought 
children, ye have kept my faith, ye have not my 
name denied, but have borne my yoke ; henceforth, 
your joy is full. Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
inherit the kingdom long since prepared for you. An- 
gels clothe them in robes of white, put crowns upon 
their heads, with palms in ev'ry hand. Conduct them 
through yon golden gates, where flowers forever bloom, 
and give to each a harp celestial. 

Hark, their hallelujahs rise symphonious : " Glory 
and honor, salvation and power, be unto the Lord 
God, and to the Lamb that was slain, and hath re- 
deemed us to God by his blood." 

Then to the fearful on the left the Judge re- 
sumes : 

I paid your ransom ; I suffered, bled, and died 
that you might live ; I waited long to gather you ; I 
sent my messengers, both late and early, in cold and 
heat; ye spurned all my love; all things were ready, 
but ye would not come. What say you now ? Speech- 
less all, not one excuse is found. " Depart, ye cursed." 



152 MUSINGS. 

" These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but 
the righteous into life eternal," Matt, xxv : 46. 

Oh reckless man! wilt thou, in reason's spite, in 
face of revelations clear, reject all offers of redeeming 
love, and saving grace, and urge thyself into the vortex 
of unending woe? 



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